Trials, Kisses and Reunions
by Stolen Key
Summary: Ireland and England face off at a world meeting, lots of arguing and Ireland running of to the bar. She meets Prussia and they drink together eventually ending in a drinking contest. I can't summarise stories at all ; ; M for drinking, language and future smexiness Main pairing will be Ireland and someone else, hints of other relationships and crushes etc
1. The one with the bar

So this is what happens when I finally get time to write another chapter for a different story and I ate far too much chocolate and drank an insane amount of Pepsi... I come up with an entire new story and have to write it instead! :D

Rated M for implied future smexiness, drinking and of course swearing cause Ireland has a very quick temper in this story.

So yea fail attempt at writing a drinking contest and Prussia ;_; I love Prussia so much and it annoys me I can't get his awesomeness across in this.

But anyway hope this is good ^^

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"ENGLAND YOU BASTARD!" Ireland's voice rang through the still air in the meeting room. The rest of the nations turned to look at her as she stood from her chair and flung a notebook at the Brit. Her face as red as her hair and her eyes narrowed dangerously as she curled her fists into balls and forced herself to refrain from hitting him. "I'm fed up of this shit you keep throwing at me about the stupid recession. It's not my fault that my old leaders were incompetent shites who can't tell their arses from their elbows! Hell I doubt most of them can even count to three!"

England yelped as the notebook hit him square on the forehead and stared back at her, his mouth hanging open in shock. "How the hell is it not your bloody fault?" he asked trying to remain calm.

"Do you really think I would let them into power? Naw of course I wouldn't have, have ya not been paying attention my people are fecking rioting up and down the country cause of them! No one thought they were any good but no one else would take their places!"

"Well then why did you not find someone better yourself?"

"You think I didn't try that? But no everyone I tried to get elected got outvoted."

"Then what about the Lisbon Treaty? As Germany said you accepted that, didn't you?"

"What if I did? What fecking good did it do? I swear sometimes I should listen to Donegal."

"But the effects aren't coming into effect just yet, it will really prove useful in a few years." Germany interjected. His face calm despite his obvious irritation that Ireland had disrupted the meeting.

"Well then that solves everything doesn't it? Yea of course it does, that will feed my people and keep them in their homes and find them jobs, oh and of course it will bring back all the leprechauns and everyone can live side by side in peace," she mocked in return laughing almost maniacally, folding her arms and glaring at Germany like he was the source of all her problems.

England sighed and stood up to face her, "He's right, change takes time and if you don't give it time then..."

"Oh aye cause I can wait that long. How the feck do you think I am going to get through the next few years? Your recession isn't nearly as bad, I dare you to say that to Spain and Greece! Oh and that reminds Greece you owe me money thanks to my stupid former government." She screamed her anger now truly gaining control.

"Ireland calm down now! This is not going to get you anywhere!" England shouted at her in return and glanced slightly at Greece who had now woken up and was hiding behind one of his cats and muttering something about the money being his now.

"You know what? Fuck this, actually fuck all of you." She turned and stormed out the door, slamming it shut behind her and leaving all the nations in a silent state of shock. After another five minutes of silence Germany cleared his throat and called the meeting back into order. The rest of the nations murmured in agreement and for the first time in a long time they paid attention to what was being said.

Meanwhile Ireland made her way to the hotels bar and swiftly ordered a whiskey, then made the bartender leave the bottle.

She was on her second bottle when a hand clasped onto her shoulder and a man sat down beside her. He ordered a beer and turned towards the still fuming nation. "So the meeting not go well?" he asked.

Ireland turned towards the man and rolled her eyes at the pale man, his red eyes boring into her green ones. "No it didn't," she answered curtly and poured out another glass of the whiskey before downing it in one gulp. Prussia gawked at her, wincing slightly as she downed another glass. Quickly he held his hand out to stop her pouring a third glass and tried to pull her attention away from the drink.

"Well want to tell me what was so unawesome about it?" he coaxed.

"England, now let go of me hand and let me have me drink!" she growled. She made a few attempts to grab the bottle Prussia had taken from her, but try as she might Prussia was too fast and it remained out of her reach.

"Ah not until you talk a bit more and calm down," he chuckled and pushed Ireland back onto her stool. Ireland glared at him before sighing dramatically and plopped down onto the stool letting her head rest on the bar top staring into empty space.

"That bastard brought up the recession, he knows how much that really fucking gets to me," she muttered angrily. Prussia set the bottle back down and watched her carefully trying to assess whether or not she would make a grab for it again, taking a chance he decided to relax a bit and take a sip from his beer. Luckily for him Ireland didn't bother trying to take the alcohol back.

"Kesesesese, ja he gets on my nerves too at times. I don't know how someone can be so unawesome." Ireland cringed at the signature laugh but nodded in agreement. "So how long have you been here?"

Ireland looked up at the clock on the wall, staring at it for a few seconds as she tried to figure out when she got here. "About half an hour," she muttered in answer.

Prussia gasped, he saw the empty bottle beside her and the nearly empty bottle of whiskey he took from her. He had expected her to have been there for a few hours not thirty minutes. "Woah, seriously? You have some awesome drinking skills, you're not even slurring your words yet!"

"And what about them? Look I just wanted a drink to calm down and there are very few that can keep up with me, so far only Scotland and Russia have managed it." She smirked at the memories of winning countless drinking competitions against self acclaimed heavy weights. Prussia just gaped at her amazed that such a small nation could go toe to toe with Russia of all people!

"I'd like to see that," he teased.

"Really now? Well sure after the meeting is done why don't ya get Russia down here," she said accepting his challenge with an evil grin.

"Ja, I will, but wait aren't you afraid of him?"

"Russia? Naw why would I be? He was one of the first to actually acknowledge my independence. He's really a big teddy once you get to know him."

"A big murderous teddy," he muttered under his breath, " Well if you aren't afraid of him I'll join too. This is going to be awesome, but you know you might have to stop drinking now so you don't give any of us a handicap."

"You're on," she said shaking his hand, "Trust me wee boy you're going to need a handicap, we went drinking before remember?"

"We did?"

"Aye, but I guess ya don't remember throwing yourself on some English soldiers and shouting how 'unawesome they were and how everyone should bow down to the awesome Prussia!' I had to pull you down a manhole to get rid of them." She laughed at the memory of Prussia running away and slipping on the slick cobblestones.

"I did? Well it sounds like me, wait was it right before your independence? When I brought over the guns and showed you how awesome I could be as a friend?" he said slowly as he took another drink from his beer.

"Aye it was, you were amazed at how much it rained." Ireland was now in a fit of giggles as Prussia was now growing a brighter shade of pink as he started to remember everything.

"Ja and you threw stones at them too! That was totally awesome, they deserved it," he yelped and then gently nudged her in the side.

"Aye they did," her giggles subsided and she looked up at the clock. Another hour until the meeting would end, then she could have her drinking contest and forget that Brit bastard. They spent the rest of the hour talking and reminiscing about all their past endeavours, they had been friends for a long time and with Prussia's insane plans and Ireland's thirst for adventure they caused a lot of trouble for England. So t was no surprise to anyone they were able to remain good friends for so long. Eventually other nations started drifting in, signalling the end of the meeting. They were about to get up and find some more drinking buddies when Russia walked in and made a beeline towards the pair, taking his place beside Ireland and ordering a bottle of vodka.

"Hello comrade, nice rant you had during the meeting. It really shook up England," he said to Ireland a childish grin pasted on his face.

Ireland grinned at him, "Well I'm glad it did, that bastard deserved it."

"Da, he did," Russia agreed and grabbed his vodka pouring out a glass and like Ireland downing it at once.

"Something troubling ya?" she asked noting his slumped shoulders and urge to drink.

"Da, my sister is being.. am what is the word... clingy?" he answered hesitantly.

"Ah sure you're with us now and we were talking about a drinking contest. How about it, think ya can beat me this time?" she challenged and winked at him.

While they were talking Prussia was sitting back staring between them in awe of their unlikely friendship, how can she not be terrified of that guy he thought. "Ahem, ja we were trying to think of others to join." Prussia added cautiously. Russia nodded his agreement and as he and Ireland started talking again Prussia leaned back on his stool and surveyed the place for potential victims. Suddenly a group walked in each talking loudly over the other, Prussia's face lit up into a huge smile. Perfect, just the drinking buddies we need.

He got up and sauntered over to them, "Spain, France, Netherlands and Denmark how about joining in our awesome drinking contest," he asked cheerfully. The group looked between them and to Ireland and Russia then ran over beside them and ordering their drinks. The next few hours were a blur of drinking, loud off-key singing and bad dancing until most of them were racing for the toilets or slumped unconscious in their stools. Eventually only Prussia, Ireland and Russia were left. Prussia had been forced to give up hours before as his brother had walked in and given him a swift scolding then took away the remainder of his money. Ireland and Russia had drank the equivalent of a barrel of alcohol between them and they were only just starting to slur their words and were intent on continuing until either dawn arrived or one of them collapsed. That was until Belarus arrived and threw a crazy fit and threatened to kill Ireland that Russia was forced to leave. They watched in amusement as Russia was dragged off before they turned back to the bar.

"Here let me get ya another drink," Ireland told him.

"Well if you insist, ja I'll get another beer," Prussia grinned, obviously relaxing now Russia was gone and he was getting a free drink.

They sat in silence as they drank, a pleasant calmness fell over them as the alcohol and previous insanity left them exhausted.

"God I forgot how much fun drinking contests were," Ireland chuckled.

"Ja, especially when you're drinking with the awesome Prussia!" he exclaimed pointing his thumb at his chest.

They fell into another silence until Prussia leaned closer to her bumping his shoulder against hers. He glanced at her and saw she had her eyes closed and he picked up on a song she was humming.

"What song is that?"

"Fields of Athenry, I don't know why but it always pops into my head when I am really happy. It's weird cause it's such a sad song."

"Ja it is," he let a smile form on his lips and his head fall onto her shoulder, "can I ask you something?"

"Yea sure, go on ahead."

He hesitated a bit before forming the words he was trying to find, "Can I... can I..."

* * *

MWAHAHAHAHAHA *cough cough* yea I did that . I regret nothing and I blame it on my insane hyperness right now and listening to too much Taylor Swift!

For some references to the meeting and stuff... Ireland was really badly affected by the recession and a lot of people are unemployed thanks to it (as with everywhere else you might say). The Lisbon Treaty thing is a reference to the fact that Donegal was the only place that stood out like a sore thumb and stuck with its original NO vote. Yea people here had a good laugh at it and so far not many people think it had a good enough effect... but I know nothing about all that so I'm going off very quick study and what others think.

Forgot to put this here before but yea Germany supported Ireland in its independence. It's something I learnt a few years ago and it kinda stuck with me.

Yea I am far too hyper right now but the next chapter will be up asap :D

Reviews please let me know what you think of Prussia, I'm worried his character is too OOC :(

Be sure and tune in next time for another exciting adventure of me, Herbert "Daring" Dashwood and my stalwart ghoul manservant Argyle!

Wait wrong thing... well until next time Children!


	2. The one with the fight

As promised next chapter and no huge wait :D

Also note on the last chapter I based Ireland losing her temper at England on a conversation I had with a former boss of mine. When he met the current president of Ireland he was warned to not mention anything about PIGS because the president would get very angry. So I made Ireland the same and had her over react to a fact England states. Ireland is just dealing with a lot of stress. Russia agreed because well he likes watching people interact and stuff ^^

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Ireland turned to look at him, a confused look set on her face.

"Can I ask do you like England?" he muttered almost afraid to ask. Ireland choked on her drink and spat it out on Prussia's face in a cloud of liquid.

"Wh.. the hell are ya asking that for and why would I like that gobshite?" she spluttered a look of panic on her face. Prussia sat back wiping his face clean chuckling quietly to himself.

"I will take that as a ja, the awesome detective Prussia strikes again!"

"Listen to yourself man! How in Gods' name would I like England after everything he put me through?" she demanded.

"Things change and I think you are starting to like him. Why else would everything he says gets on your nerves?"

"Oh yea and how would ya know anything about that?" she asked now burying her face in her arms and leaning back on the bar top. Prussia turned a bright shade of red and coughed conscientiously into his hand. "Wait are ya getting shy? So tell me who is it you're after?"

Prussia stared at her his face slowly lighting up in that bright red and his mouth falling open. "No..no-one!"

"Aww sure your secret's safe with me, I won't tell anyone." She teased in return and secretly glad she found a way to change the subject.

"Fine, I'll tell you if you admit you like eyebrows!" Prussia exclaimed a challenging glint returning to his eyes.

"No deal, and besides even if I did admit to liking him. Which I don't! You'll never tell me who you like."

"I promise I'll tell you and I won't make a big deal if you like England, he does have a nice ass..."

Ireland nodded absentmindedly at that comment before realising what she had done. "HE DOES NOT!" she screamed as soon as Prussia started snickering. "Why would I be looking at his arse anyway?"

"Cause you like him," he teased and stuck out his tongue at her. At that moment Ireland wanted the floor to swallow her whole, she felt how red her face had become and knew that Prussia was not going to drop the subject until she found a way to change it herself, wait, she thought, she needs to find out who Prussia likes! Racking her brain for any potential matches, she ignored Prussia's constant teasing and the looks they were getting from the other people in the bar she suddenly hit gold. Hungary.

"You're not going to believe who I was chatting to this morning," she commented trying to appear nonchalant.

"Who? Was it your precious England?" Prussia laughed and almost fell off his stool as he doubled over and gasped for breath.

"Naw, I was chatting to Hungary. She was just showing me some new lingerie she got, have to admit that girl has a fantastic body," Ireland lied through her teeth. There was no way Hungary would do anything like that, but Prussia wouldn't know that or at least she hoped he wouldn't.

"Ha... you're lying.. she.. she wouldn't talk about stuff like that.." Prussia stuttered. Ireland looked over at the albino and smiled at the fact he was quickly looking around the room and trying to hide a blush.

"Why would I lie? But you're right she wouldn't talk about that stuff," she hummed.

"Ha I told you..."

"She showed me." Prussia burst into a fit of coughing and this time fell of the stool, as he pulled himself back onto the stool Ireland continued, "Some of the bras had the cutest wee bows and the lace on the thongs was pretty sexy. At least on her it was." By now Prussia was the brightest shade of red Ireland had ever seen and was finding it very difficult to move. She spared him an evil grin and pulled him up. "So ya like Hungary then?"

Prussia didn't answer, instead he just stared ahead of him and Ireland could almost see him imagining Hungary in lingerie. "Yea, ya do. But ya can trust me, I won't tell anyone your wee secret," she winked at him, "Oh and I wasn't talking to her this morning. Do ya really think she would do that?" Prussia gaped at her in shock, Gott she was a good liar he thought.

"Should have known," he whispered allowing his head to fall onto the bar top, "Still I wonder what kind of lingerie she wears.." he trailed off. Ireland scoffed at the man she could have sworn was a teenager stuck in a grown nation's body and returned to her drink. After a period of silence he started, "fine I like her, but now you have to admit you like eyebrows." Ireland grimaced and thought about it for a while, he did admit to liking Hungary and that was part of their deal. Sighing she nodded slightly and took a huge gulp of her whiskey and waited for Prussia to make fun of her. To her surprise he didn't, instead he just started peeling the paper off his beer bottle.

"So what do we do about it then?" Prussia suddenly broke the silence, "I mean ja we could stay quiet about it I'm awesome so I can do that, but you and England need to either fuck or kill each other. You guys are not going to be able to be in the same room if you keep going the way you are. The meeting earlier is kind of proof of that."

"I keep forgetting that you are pretty smart and blunt, of course."

"Of course I am, I'm the awesome Prussia!"

Ireland laughed at him and was about to tell him off for shouting when the door to the bar slammed open. They spun around to look at who had entered. Stood there was America dragging a very disgruntled England behind him. Ireland felt her blood begin to boil again at the sight of the Brit. Prussia moved to hold onto her shoulder anticipating her to start a fight and hoping he could keep things calm. If West found out he let a fight break out he would be in too much trouble. Ireland bit back a remark she intended to throw at England and stayed calm, or as calm as she could given the situation.

"Iggy come on~" America whined as he pulled England into the bar, the British man putting up a very good fight. "You need to relax and you promised to buy me a drink."

"When the bloody hell did I ever promise that?" he retorted in anger.

"Ammm, well maybe you didn't but dude, seriously you need to calm down. I thought you were going to kill someone earlier." America laughed.

"I was not going to kill someone, and how many times do I have to tell you to use proper grammar!" England scowled at the taller man after successfully causing America to stop, but to his annoyance America still had a firm grip of his wrist.

"Who cares about grammar we need to get you a drink!" America lifted England above his head causing the emerald eyed nation to squeak in surprise and moved towards the bar. He placed England down on a stool and ordered them both drinks. It was then when they noticed Ireland and all hell broke loose. As soon as their eyes met Ireland and England threw themselves into a fistfight over the bar top. America and Prussia stood back for a minute as the nations ripped into each other, clawing at each others skin and pulling the others hair. It was when the bartender tried to intervene that America decided enough was enough and pulled England back thus prompting Prussia to grab Ireland and pull her away. The nations glared at each other when they were firmly held back.

"Ha well that was interesting... am yea how about we all try and be friends here?" America chirped, panting slightly as England was still struggling to get free.

"Why the fuck would I be his friend, the stuck up bastard," Ireland growled at them.

"Oh right and I want to be friend with someone who turned down a chance at a fantastic future," England scowled at her.

"Oh yea wee boy cause I'm not the only one that fought to get free from ya!"

England launched into a tirade of insults and tried to throw himself at Ireland at the remark but America held firm. Great, Ireland you had to bring that up, America thought to himself. Lately he has been trying to stop the fights once that broke out between them but they have been getting more frequent and now they could barely stay in the same room.

"Woah guys, stop this now. If you keep it up Germany is never going to let you into any of the meetings." America shouted over them. They stopped and looked up at him briefly before grumbling excuses.

"Fine, I wouldn't want to have to listen to an insensitive arsehole anyway," Ireland spat at them.

"Well there's one thing we can both agree on," England retorted. Shaking his head America pulled England up and flung him over his shoulder and turned to leave the bar.

"Well it's nice to see two people I really care about getting along," he sighed and left the bar. England and Ireland both stopped instantly and hung their heads in shame. England struggled to get down but America refused to let him down until they were outside the front door.

Prussia finally let go of Ireland who just remained still, watching America take England with him. She felt horrible, America was important to her and she just hurt him by fighting with England. She never thought that their fighting would hurt anyone else and knew how bad it must have hurt him as it ripped her apart to hear the things England threw her way. It wasn't until Prussia asked if she was alright did she notice the tears trickling down her cheeks. Shrugging she shook her head but walked back to the bar and ordered another drink for both her and Prussia. Wiping away her tears she told Prussia to drink and shut up. Another silence fell over them, awkwardness and regret washing over them. After half an hour of silence it was eventually broken by a new arrival who quietly took a place beside Ireland and asked if she was ok. They looked up at the man and both smiled recognising Canada.

"Yea, honestly I don't know," Ireland sighed and sat back on the stool.

"England can be really mean at times, but he did seem to regret saying what he did once you left the meeting," Canada said in barely a whisper.

"Sure he did lad," Ireland smiled slightly, thinking the nation was only trying to cheer her up. They spent the next few hours jumping from one conversation to another, carefully tiptoeing around any involving England until it was closing time.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

Meanwhile America and England were making their way to the closest bar. England remained silent as America babbled on about how annoyed he was with his behaviour. What am I? A five year old? England thought to himself angrily. But America was right, he was behaving childishly and could only imagine how much it hurt him seeing two people so close to him fight constantly.

Finding a bar they ordered their drinks and found a neutral conversation topic to stick to, that was until America asked "Do you still have feelings for Ireland?" England gasped at the sudden question and tried to ignore it but felt a blush creep up his cheeks which he hoped was from the alcohol.

"No, I don't. Why would you ask such a thing?" he muttered in reply.

"Really? Iggy I might be really dense at times but come on dude, there is something you are not telling me," America argued determined to get to the bottom of things.

"Why should I tell you anyway, as far as I am aware it has nothing to do with you if I like her or not!" England growled.

America considered his answer for a moment before answering, "So you do like her?" England looked at him with a mixture of shock and embarrassment.

"I..I do not!" he stuttered then took another gulp of his drink and avoided eye contact with the American.

"If you like her it's ok, but you are hurting her a lot by saying all those things to her. You know when I first met her I was jealous she would steal you away from me, but then when I got to know her I liked her a lot. I saw why you liked her too and I honestly just want you to be happy," he confessed, glancing over at the Brit and smiling as he was only met by silence and a glare. "I know that what she said hurt you, but can you imagine how bad she feels? She has to deal with most of Europe looking down on her until after this recession. I would be pretty damn stressed then too."

"Maybe I was a little blunt, but I was only stating facts and she said even more hateful things to me," England argued quietly.

"So you're not denying that you like her?" America cocked an eyebrow at him.

"Damn it America when did you get so smart?" England ignored his question, feeling it better to stay quiet on that front.

"Dude I was always smart," he gave England one of his megawatt smiles, "and if you like her, tell her."

"How can I tell her? I was horrible to her and she probably hates me," England propped his elbows on the bar top and dropped his head into his palms and rubbed his eyes.

"Come on now don't think like that.."

"G'day mates!" a loud voice cut America off and they turned to see Australia and New Zealand walk in. "What brings you guys to this pub?"

"We could say the same to you," America replied, getting up to hug the two nations. "We were going to go to the hotel bar, but well Iggy here is an idiot."

"What? I am not an idiot you git!" England remarked, giving America his best death glare.

"Woah dude calm down, seriously fine you're not an idiot... just a little slow," America laughed giving him a cheeky grin.

"Why is England an idiot?" New Zealand asked from beside Australia.

"Cause he is, and well if I tell you guys he might kill me."

"FOR THE LAST BLOODY TIME I AM NOT AN IDIOT!" England screamed at them and downed the rest of his drink.

"Ok Iggy, jeez I was just kidding," America said holding his hands up in a sign of surrender, "Well guys care to join us for a few drinks?"

"Sure mate, I don't see why not. We came here anyway cause we are on our way back from the beach and the hotel bar is always crowded," Australia answered and threw himself onto the stool beside America. New Zealand sat beside England and ordered them all drinks as he tried to calm the fuming nation. The next few hours passed in a blur of dancing, shouting and America and Australia attempting every dangerous endeavour they could think of. Near closing time New Zealand was forced to drag England back to the hotel as America and Australia had decided they wanted to have a competition to see who can annoy England the most.

_~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~_

_Back at the hotel_

"Canada how can you be so calm and quiet?" Ireland asked the blonde as they made their way back to the rooms.

"Amm, I guess I'm used to it," he answered rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment.

"Ja, it's awesome you can do that. I would get totally pissed off at your brother if I were you," Prussia butt in.

"I don't think he's very annoying, well most of the time," he giggled a bit at his reply, almost afraid he would get caught talking about America behind his back. "But you know he never means any harm, he's just loud.."

Ireland laughed at the man and nodded in agreement.

"Well guys, time for me to go to bed. If West finds out I stayed out this late he's gonna be mad," Prussia exclaimed to them as he walked down another hall towards his room he shared with Germany.

"Night, and I think I saw Germany with Italy earlier so you might be safe," Ireland called after him.

"Awesome!" came his reply and they heard a door closing.

"Where is your room?" Ireland asked Canada as they walked further down the corridor.

"Just left now, room 626" he answered quietly.

"Really? That's close to my room, I'm in 624" Ireland chirped as they turned the corner to their rooms. She was in a good mood and couldn't keep a smile from her lips, until she looked up and saw England coming in the opposite direction along with New Zealand. The mood instantly soured as the nations glared at each other and Canada and New Zealand shared a worried look.

"Well would you look at what the cat dragged in, and hi New Zealand it's been a while. How was it babysitting such a brat?" she remarked, her smile quickly fading to a frown.

New Zealand remained frozen in place in fear as he remembered the fight during the meeting earlier. "He's fine," England returned, "I'm surprised you weren't kicked out of the hotel after your tantrum earlier."

"Tantrum, naw if you remember I was just having a bit of craic when you had to come in and ruin all that with your ugly face," Ireland countered.

"Amm guys can you..." Canada tried to interrupt but was overlooked as England and Ireland threw themselves into another argument. Sighing he looked at New Zealand who was also trying and failing to calm England down. "New Zealand," he started and ran over and nudged the other nation on the shoulder to get his attention, "trust me they are not going to listen to us, we should probably get someone to stop them before they wake up the entire hotel." New Zealand nodded.

"I was with your brother and Australia, they should be close but we have to hurry they are going to kill each other at this rate," he said, his eyes flitting towards the nations who were now starting to yell at each other. Before they could witness any more of the fighting they fled down the corridor to get help.

"Aww come off it ya wee shite! What the hell is your problem with me" Ireland snapped.

"My problem with you? What is your bloody problem with me? You're the one who has been the git for the past few years!" England retaliated.

"What? Since when? Seriously wee boy you get on my fucking nerves at times and I wish you would back off."

"Me back off? Remind me when I last started one of these stupid fights?"

"Yes you and everytime we talk ya have to start something and ya know what I'm sick of it! I'm tired of constantly having to fight ya cause you're an eejit who will never fecking see something that's right in front of his stupid face!" she screamed at him and took a step closer.

"At least we can agree on something, but I DO NOT start these and if you think I do then you're the 'eejit'." He roared at her and stood closer until they were mere inches apart, each trying to get the other to back off as they glared at each angrily.

"Ya know what I really don't need this, you're a gobshite and you will never see that!" Ireland started to turn away from him until he grabbed her arm to stop her. "Let go of me now," she growled up at him.

"No I will not, and you need to listen we need to stop this fighting now. We are dragging other people into it and it's not fair on them." he answered abruptly, some of his anger seeming to ebb.

"Why not? And how do you suggest that? But I swear if you don't let go right now I will.." she was cut off as England pulled her into a kiss forcing her into silence. Ireland's breath hitched in her chest and her eyes fell shut as if instinct told her to give in. England moved his hand up to run through her hair and pulled her close with his other as he deepened the kiss. Breaking apart they gazed into each other's eyes, their previous fight forgotten as they went in for another, more passionate kiss and Ireland wrapped her arms around England's neck.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

When Canada and New Zealand returned with America and Australia they had disappeared leaving the four nations to wonder where they went. After searching around for any damage they might have done and listening for any more shouting they eventually gave up and went to their respective rooms.

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And no Prussia X Ireland. I ship him with Hungary too much to let him be with anyone else and well Ireland and Prussia would be brilliant drinking buddies and that would be the height of it XD

Also I ship my Ireland with England quite a bit and given the history between the countries it's hard not to...

Now I am in a dilemma about whether or not to write the next scene between England or Ireland... . Yea never wrote anything like that before so I don't know how well it would end up :(

Well anyways reviews are amazing and make my day, and if you see anything that stands out as odd or a character is too OOC let me know as well ^^

Next chapter should be up soon. I like writing this story more than I thought I would :D


	3. The one with the morning after

Short chapter is short -.- But yea I know exactly how this should be going and have it all planned out but after I get to a certain point I keep hitting writers block and start going off from my plan and end up with crap :/

So yea thanks for everyone who has reviewed, favourited and followed ^^ Hope this short but semi sweet chapter is good.

**BewilderedHorse: **Yea I can't ship them any other way XD

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The next morning Ireland woke up with a dull ache in her head. Turning over she noticed she was alone in a large king sized bed and the other side was abandoned. Feeling her heart start to race she quickly sat up and scanned the room, her clothes were scattered everywhere and the noise of the shower was coming from the bathroom. Groaning she flopped back onto the bed and reached her hand up to her neck, wincing as she brushed some tender spots. Great, she thought not only did she have a one night stand with someone but now she couldn't even remember who. To make matters worse this was not her room and she wasn't sure how far she would have to go to get back to her own room to change. Moving off the bed she grabbed her clothes but stopped dead as she heard the shower stop and the door to the bathroom open. Flinging herself under the blankets again she shut her eyes tight and pretended to be asleep. She anxiously waited for the person, whom she assumed was a man considering she was drinking with men the previous night, to change or go back into the bathroom so she could make her escape. She ran through the list of men she was drinking with and the very short list of whom she would sleep with, she narrowed it down to a few candidates and almost eliminated one until...

"Ireland I know you're awake so don't even pretend to be asleep," came an English accent, confirming her fears.

Prying her eyes open she sat back up and gripped the blankets around herself, she looked up at him as he sat himself down at the foot of the bed facing away from her and started drying his hair, a towel wrapped around his waist. Ireland gasped at seeing bright red claw marks on his back. "We... last night, we didn't sleep together, did we?" she muttered and tried to hide the grin she wore after seeing the damage she inflicted.

"It appears so yes, although I'm not sure exactly how we ended up here but we did," he told her his voice calm as he tried to recollect his memories of the night. "The last thing I remember was leaving a pub with New Zealand and then nothing, I think I remember fighting with someone but that can't be correct."

Ireland nodded at the statement, her memories were fuzzy and possibly worst than England's, she barely remembered leaving the hotel bar. But suddenly something clicked in her mind, she remembered seeing New Zealand and oh no, she thought. She was walking back to her room with Canada and then when she was confronted with England she started a fight, groaning she fell back onto the head-board and cradled her head in her hands.

"I remember, I left the bar with Canada and Prussia, we dropped Prussia off and when we almost got to our rooms we met the two of ya. Then we... then we started a fight. The last thing I remember before this happened, was Canada and New Zealand running off," she muttered into her hands. England's eyes opened wide as his memories came rushing back.

"Bl..bloody hell! We did not? Did we, oh dear I have to apologise to them. Sorry we should both apologise to them," he said, his voice sullen as he realised how ungentlemanly he had acted. " However I barely remember the fight."

"Really? Well it was one of the normal ones.. until ya said we needed to stop fighting, I think I said something else but I can't remember, when I tried to leave you pulled me back and..." her voice trailed off into a whisper and a tomato like blush set across her face. England gaped at her once again, this time at a complete loss for words. "Yea, ya did that. Honestly never thought ya would, but ya were right. The fighting had to stop and after seeing those too run off just proves to me how bad it's getting," she continued then allowed silence to engulf them both.

England nodded his agreement, "Ahem well then I suppose we should find a way to deal with this fighting first," he said after a long pause. "We should also talk about what happened last night." Ireland winced at the last statement, although more liberal now than she had ever been, sex outside marriage and one night stands still made her feel uneasy. England noting her discomfort continued cautiously, "also I apologise for the marks, I am... got carried away..." He dipped his head as if to hide his face and Ireland instinctively reached up to brush over her neck. "Ok to start with what do you want to do? I doubt a relationship is on the table here considering our history but..."

"No!" Ireland cut him off, "I definitely don't need a relationship now. How about we leave it at this and pretend it never happened?" she offered, rushing her words together between short gasps for air. England sighed audibly at the offer but stood up and turned towards her his lips twitching in an unnatural smile.

"Why yes, yes that would work wonderfully," he agreed, "Now to get onto the issue of us fighting."

Ireland raised an eyebrow at his reaction; she had known England long enough to know when he was keeping a stiff upper lip. "England, that's not what you want. Is it?" she asked hesitantly and ran her hands up her arms, allowing her guard to drop slightly. She watched England shift slightly at the question but he held firm and refused to allow his resolve to falter.

"No, it is exactly what I want. Now as I said before we need to discuss this fighting and what we should do about it," he laughed. "Any ideas?"

"I think we should just be civil to each other, and if anyone asks we tell them we don't want to see the ones we care about get dragged into anything," she answered, fully aware she was not going to get England to open up. "Now if you don't mind what room is this?"

"623," he answered curtly as he made his way towards his wardrobe to get clothes to wear for that days meeting.

"Huh, that's right next to mine," Ireland murmured in response and got up to gather her clothes, keeping a very careful watch on England so he wouldn't turn around. Having eventually found her bra hanging off the curtain rail, how it got there she has no clue, she pulled on the clothes.

"Before you go, just remember to cover those marks unless you want questions," England advised her as she pulled on her shoes and grabbed her bag.

"I know, well see ya at the meeting," she replied and with that she quickly left the room.

"There are times I wish you never left," England muttered quietly as she was about to close the door. She stopped on hearing the confession, but before she could do anything the door closed behind her and she heard footsteps coming around the corner accompanied by America's obnoxious laugh. Panicking she reached for her key card and scrambled to the door to her room, opening it and slamming it shut after her.

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So kinda a cliff hanger again... . Next chapter will be up tomorrow I can promise that


	4. The one with the sauna

As promised the next chapter and I finally thought of a name for this (I really suck at names) :D and it's much longer than the last one XD Granted it took a little longer because people would not leave me alone to write -.- But I digress I got time and wrote like a madwoman, so mad I went off on a tangent again... but all in the name of fun, right? I eventually pulled it back into the story I want to follow :D

**TheScienceChick:** Best review I ever got! Seriously loved it XD Yea Ireland is never happy when that happens.. but she's a nation and they do stuff... and well I couldn't have everything going smoothly now could I? . Anyways the whole England wishing Ireland was still part of the union came from conversations/discussions/debates I've had with English friends who thought the exact same XD

**TheIrishMaid** Really? Sweet! Yea I can't see them not being together... but it will never be a smooth ride for them and now I really want to get this right XD

**thebackofthebooklies **eep thanks for the review ^^

and because I was far too tired before a belated thanks to **thebewilderedhorse **and **RomanoLindsey **^^ Reviews make me stupidly happy and of course to the awesome people following and favourited ^^

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What was that about? She thought to herself as she slid down the inside of the hotel room door. Shaking her head she pulled herself up and away from her thoughts and partial regrets over the night they spent together, she couldn't let it end like that could she? After a quick shower she chose out a sky blue dress with a flowy skirt and tied a short navy silk scarf around her neck. Quickly she made her way to the meeting, she was already late but by now everyone knew she was late to everything. The worst that could happen was that Germany would shout at her again. Which in her opinion was nothing compared to England's rampages when he was an Empire. Despite how good she had gotten at sneaking into meetings she was caught within seconds after she took her seat near the front next to Australia and was about to be reprimanded when someone else arrived late.

"Sorry, I slept in. I swear I got caught up with... business," England's voice rang out over the hushed silence. Looking up he accidentally made eye contact with Ireland, he looked like he was about to say something but instead moved to take his seat beside America and started rummaging through his notes. Ireland took in the full suit he was wearing; nearly everyone else had left their jackets in their rooms as they were in Spain and it was the height of summer. Pondering the reasons for the jacket she quickly concluded the scratch marks must not have properly healed, or he was afraid they might start bleeding. Smirking to herself she devised a plan to both get revenge on him for what he said that morning and bring a source of entertainment for the afternoon meeting, now though she had to make it through the morning.

At the sudden intrusion Germany let out a puff of air in frustration and then continued to reprimand both England and Ireland before eventually starting the meeting. After what felt like a year to Ireland, Germany finally called time for lunch. Jumping to her feet she grabbed her purse and ran to meet Poland who she had agreed to have lunch with. Suddenly England appeared in front of her and stopped her dead in her tracks.

"We need to apologise to them now," he demanded and tried to pull her after him.

"Hold on one minute, I don't know about you but I have plans for lunch and if I don't go then he will be really annoyed and I might have to choose out my own clothes," she said and pulled her arm out of England's grip.

"Is that so?" he retorted, raising an impressive eyebrow in question. "Now who might that be?" As he asked the question the sound of Poland running towards him stopped their conversation dead.

"Ireland, come on. We like totally need to go through all the designs and like colours you can pull off." He half sang half whined at the red haired nation.

"On my way," Ireland answered and gave England a glare, "England we'll get a drink later to celebrate our newfound 'peace treaty.'" She emphasised the last two words hoping England would understand that she wanted to apologise to the other nations then.

"Fine," he sighed and took a step back, "now hurry up Poland is not one for waiting around."

Grinning Ireland took off after Poland who had left the meeting room and was waiting outside the door.

"Poland I have a plan for the meeting after lunch but I'll need help," she told the blonde once out of earshot of the Englishman.

"Ooh is it gonna be totally awesome? Cause like you know I can totally help with that," he answered cheerfully as he played with his hair.

"Trust me it is, we need to help poor old England get more into the meetings, he's too grumpy we should find a way for him to relax," she hummed grinning mischievously. Her tone hinting at a prank she wished to pull that Poland instantly picked up on.

"You like really love messing with eyebrows, don't you?"

"Of course I do, who else would I annoy?"

Poland laughed at her response and glint in her eye, "oh my god that's like so true. The others aren't as fun to play with, but we should eat, like soon cause I'm beyond hungry."

During lunch they discussed ideas for pranks to pull on England that would involve him losing his jacket. Eventually they settled on turning up the thermostat and gluing it to keep it still, simple but effective and it would surely provoke the other nations to react as well. They also decided to find a way to keep the windows shut so they could create a sauna and possibly even get the meeting cut short.

Sneaking in early they searched the entire room until they found it and turned it up full blast. Quickly they glued it shut and then closed all the windows, they noticed the windows had locks as they did so and pocketed the keys as they went. Admiring their handiwork they made their way to their seats once they heard footsteps coming down the hall.

It was almost thirty minutes into the meeting when England started twitching in his seat, his face red and forehead shining with perspiration. He was sitting in the row in front of Ireland and she smirked knowing it wouldn't be long until their plan would work. After another five minutes of loosening his tie and unbuttoning his jacket America nudged him in the arm and said something quietly. Sighing, he eventually took off his jacket and rolled his shirt sleeves up. Despite removing his jacket soon the heat started becoming unbearable and the scratch marks on his back were started to itch, not good he thought to himself and tried ignoring the now almost painful itching. Suddenly a cry broke through the meeting forcing Japan to halt his speech and everyone spun around to see Denmark fighting with Norway as he tried to strip off his trousers, his shirt and tie already disposed of.

"It's too hot in here! I'm going to melt," he whined as he fought off the other blonde.

"You can't.. strip... off here," Norway growled at him and tried pulling Denmark's hands away but failed and ended up tossed to the ground. Succeeding in knocking away Norway Denmark quickly ripped off his trousers and promptly sat back down on his seat.

"Sorry about that, Japan you can continue with what you were saying," he said in a content tone, now he was almost completely naked apart from his fluorescent green boxers with tiny beer bottles printed on them.

"You cannot sit like that during a meeting!" Germany shouted at the Dane, standing up to give him his best death glare.

"Wait a minute, you can't expect us to sit through this heat? Fix it and I'll get dressed," Denmark replied, his voice partly threatening.

"Honhonhonhon, I like his plan quite a bit mon cher," came France's voice from the other side of the room. Spinning Germany blanched once he saw the Frenchman. France stood facing him and unlike Denmark he had chosen to lose all his clothes, to save a bit of his modesty his bird Pierre hovered in front of his more private area. He bent over Spain slightly and tried to encourage the Spanish man to follow suit, and judging by how Spain was loosening his tie and undoing his buttons he wasn't about to argue.

"Spain, don't even think of that!" Germany warned the brunette in a growl.

"Ok, I won't, but first allow me to adjust the thermostat. It might have gotten turned up by accident, oh and look the windows are closed." Spain pointed out and walked over to the thermostat. However try as he might it wouldn't budge. Groaning in frustration he turned to the windows hoping he could at least let some fresh air in. Once he got to them he let out another groan. They were locked shut and the keys were gone. "Ah it's no good, the thermostat is broken and the windows have no keys."

With that revelation Germany announced he would be back with someone to help and left, soon the meeting fell into chaos until Germany brought it back under control when he arrived back with someone he hoped could solve their problem. He couldn't, nothing he did would make the thermostat budge and without the keys for the windows they couldn't be opened as the spare keys were lost. Ireland and Poland grinned at each other as their plan was now fully under way, Ireland had cast a cooling spell over them so they could enjoy their prank to the fullest. Once again Germany left the room, this time in an attempt to get the meeting room changed until repairs could be made to the thermostat. Jumping up from his seat Spain raced after him to try and ease the relations between him and the receptionist.

When they returned everyone was in a state of undress in some form or another.

"We're stuck, the other rooms are taken so we have to put up with this heat," Spain sighed and stepped backwards as a wave of heat hit him on the face. He looked at Germany who was already starting to shine from sweat.

"Right everyone, back to your seats. We'll continue and hopefully they will find the spare keys for the windows," Germany announced briefly and prompted Japan to continue his speech.

As the meeting progressed Ireland and Poland kept a very close eye on England who after an hour, remained the only male nation with a shirt on. Sure he had unbuttoned it, but he had remained resolute in his resolve to keep it on once he was teased by France to take it off. Soon sweat patches started forming between his shoulder blades and on his lower back, causing the white fabric to stick to his skin and become semi translucent. A sudden squeal from France interrupted the meeting and he threw himself from his seat directly behind England to hug the green eyed nation.

"So tell me, who was it that cause such remarkable marks on your back?" he purred in England's ear, causing the Brit to blush a bright red.

"What? Don't be insane you frog!" he spat back at him and stood up to glare at the Frenchman.

"Aww look at that, he's shy," Spain cooed, joining in on the teasing.

"Wait.." England gasped and shot a glare at Spain in return.

"You were with someone last night?" America piped in.

"You gits! Who would I have slept with last night? Seriously I'm a bloody gentleman, I would not stoop to such a thing," he retorted and tried to hold his head high.

"Well I can think of a few people... and it wasn't France cause he would have been more annoying this morning if you did it with him," America pondered aloud.

"To dismiss me so quickly! You wound me Amérique! Maybe I was just biding my time and planned this whole thing to show how strong my amour is for Angleterre?" he said, feigning offense at America's words.

England gaped at them both silently, his face red with both anger and embarrassment. "There is no way I would ever sleep with you frog!" he yelled.

"You were not saying that on that oh so special Christmas we spent together," France teased and stood up to play with England's shirt.

"We did no such thing!" England's face was filled with disgust as France tried pulling him closer and he slapped the Frenchman away then ran from the meeting.

America gave France a questioning look but France just sat down and smiled to himself completely lost in his thoughts.

As the door slammed shut Poland and Ireland shared a look, both doubled over in laughter. Poland winked at her and quickly whipped out his phone. A few seconds later Ireland felt hers buzz, unlocking it she read the text Poland had just sent her.

**_You totally slept with him right? xxx _**It read, Ireland grinned and replied.

**_If it was me, will you tell anyone? _**

Poland suddenly burst out into a fit of giggles at the reply.

**_Lol like your secrets safe with me xxx ;)_**

After England left the meeting was quickly dismissed when even Germany started to crack from the sweltering heat and Denmark had followed France's lead and completely stripped.

Ireland instantly ran to America grabbing him by the arm, which if she allowed herself to admit was actually pretty well defined and muscular in spite of how many burgers he eats. Damn it, she thought, why did he have to take his shirt off as well?

"America, did England say anything before he left? Like where he was going?" she asked, careful to keep her eyes on his, since when did he get that well built?

"Nope, he didn't. He just ran," he chuckled a bit. "Normally he goes to a bar when he storms off."

"Of course he would," Ireland agreed, "oh and before I forget. Sorry about dragging ya into our arguments. We talked about it last night after New Zealand and Canada ran off, and yea.. sorry."

"It's ok, seriously I know how you guys work and it's no problem. It was a little annoying though, but I had to learn to ignore it again," America answered happily, "Oh and any idea who Iggy slept with? We are putting bets on it, but everyone has different ideas, and considering you might have been the last one to talk to him then you might know. Oh and a lot of people think it was you, but we both know that you and him would rip each others throats out before doing anything like that."

Ireland rubbed her neck subconsciously and started fidgeting with her silver charm bracelet; thankful that America was the single most dense person she had ever met and shook her head. "Nope not a clue, who do you think it was?"

"I think it was Japan, he went really red when France pointed out the scratches," America mused, completely unaware of Ireland's fidgeting.

"I somehow doubt it was him, naw I think ya need to think about who scratches when they, you know," as soon as she said that she quickly slapped her hand to her mouth.

"You know!" America exclaimed, "why else would you say that?"

"I don't, I was just using logic." Ireland argued feeling her face turn red, "ask France, he's slept with nearly everyone so he should know."

With that she fled from the room and raced to the bar where she found England drowning his sorrows. Clearing her throat she ordered a drink and took the stool beside him.

"So that was interesting," she said to him.

England grunted in response.

"Ya know I run all the way here to discuss how we should apologise to them and ya can only grunt in reply, you're lovely. Ya know that?"

"Indeed I am, you broke the thermostat didn't you?"

"What, now why would I do that," Ireland faked shock and taking a sip from her Guinness.

"Simply because you love messing with me. Now answer me this one simple question. Why?"

"Because ya weren't honest with me."

England glared at her and shook his head before downing his drink and standing up to leave.

"Wait," Ireland continued and grabbed his arm to stop him, her eyes wide and imploring, begging him to talk. "Just tell me what ya meant when I left this morning."

"You heard that?" England asked quietly. Ireland nodded in response. "Well it's exactly as I said, there are times that I wish you never left."

Ireland gaped at him, she had never seen him this honest before. His defences were gone and now he was actually just telling her what he thought without it divulging into a fight.

"What about now? What do ya think of me now?" she asked hesitantly.

England broke their eye contact for a moment, he looked down and tried to stop his heart from racing.

"I don't know, when I see you I get angry with myself, but then I see how happy you are and I'm happy you are able to smile and laugh like you used to. I just, what I mean to say is that there are times when I can't get you out of my head and it drives me crazy, but then you remind me of how you got away and I hate you, but I can't hate you I..." he trailed off into his own thoughts and Ireland just stared at him, her mouth hanging open slightly.

"Do ya have feelings for me?"

"Possibly," he answered shortly and made eye contact again. They stared at each other for a while before England broke the silence, "I don't expect you to reciprocate anything I just need you to listen. It's getting too hard to do this and I needed to do something and I think that is why we spent last night together and honestly, if I could I would do it again in a heartbeat. I just.." he was cut off from his rushed explanation when he noticed Ireland crying. "Fuck... are you alright?" Ireland nodded and smiled at him. "Why are you smi..." then things clicked into place in England's mind. He remembered the argument they had the previous night and the line Ireland said to him about not noticing something in front of him. "When you said I never see what's in front of me, you meant yourself didn't you?" he asked and swallowed back his nerves. Once again Ireland nodded. Without waiting for another answer England pulled her up to meet him, cupping her cheek in his hand he lifted her face up to his and pressed their lips together. Immediately Ireland wrapped her arms around his shoulders and kissed him back, smiling into the kiss. It was only when they ran out of air they pulled apart and smiled at each other, their foreheads touching.

"I think we should probably go get something to eat," Ireland said in barely a whisper, "and somewhere the rest won't find us."

"Yes, that might be preferable," England agreed and took her hand leading her out of the hotel.

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So things are on the up :D Possibly not for long cause next I have to bring in other countries finding out etc. Which means Northern Ireland and Scotland are gonna be introduced next!

Yea I suddenly had the idea of the meeting room turning into a sweatbox after remembering a conversation I had with people from all over the world. Denmark claiming he was going to melt was something a Dane actually said when he was talking about going to a warm place. Actually most of the people form the more northern countries said that. So I had to throw that in, and of course Denmark had to strip and get down to bright boxers :P And France stripping cause it's France and he likes being naked.

As for America.. who wouldn't look at him if he was covered in sweat and shirtless? :O

So hope this was good ^^ and that it wasn't too rushed either... when I finished and read over it I kinda got that thought...

Next chapter will have loads of sneaking around and the start of a good bit of drama :D


	5. The one with the scared frog

This absolutely refused to let me write it :O But I persevered and pulled through... even though I wrote it when I should have been researching a topic for college -.- Woohoo distractions!

No Scotland and Northern Ireland yet ;_; Once I eventually got this going a direction I liked it grew a lot quicker than I imagined but they are showing up in the next chapter :D Referring to the 12th of July in this... a lot of people from Northern Ireland and the border counties take their holidays then because sometimes things get out of hand and no-one wants to hang around for that :/

**thebackofthebooklies: **Hehe yep there is going to be loads of drama along that line XD Yay glad you liked it :D

**ThatScienceChick**: XD Must be a Danish thing and no Scotland will not be happy.. I doubt many people would be happy about them ^^'

**IrishMaid: **Yep that's kinda how I look at their whole relationship and it just being a lot of near misses, mistakes and the whole Empire thing getting in the way. It's one of the reasons I can't ship America with Ireland cause Ireland still had a role in America's life (although very diminished) after America got his independence. Also is it bad I still ship USUK? Once Ireland is thrown in then I don't ship them... but imo they had more time to get used to their new roles and time changes things ^^' Whereas with England and Ireland it's still less than 100 years, which I imagine in a nations life isn't very long so they are still dealing with the recoil from her breaking away.

Well anyways, hope this chapter is good ^^ and thanks for everyone who has read, reviewed etc :D

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They were surprised at how easy it had been to sneak out of the hotel, but once they considered most nations were probably already eating or out exploring the city it really shouldn't have been too difficult. They slowly meandered through the streets until they found a nice restaurant. As they ate they talked, laughed and exchanged simple little touches like holding hands. To an observer it would have appeared like they were on a third date and were equally enamoured with each other. No-one would have guessed that both were treading very carefully and trying their best to put a long history behind them. Despite their reservations they were able to find conversations flow freely as they ate and soon realised how much they had missed out in the others life. Before this they went out of their way to avoid each other; that was until North forced them to talk when things got very bad for him. Even though they were both able to help him, they weren't able to get over their past. So they fought when they had to talk outside very important political meetings. They didn't know any other way to deal with their feelings and neither would ever back down. So being able to talk normally to each other was a very welcome change that both agreed would work out better for everyone. After all now they weren't hurting anyone anymore, but they quickly realised the ones they were hurting the most by fighting was themselves.

After leaving the restaurant they wandered the city for a while hand in hand. Normally Ireland would have never revealed that she enjoyed spending time with stuffy England, but as she got to know him again she couldn't keep a smile off her face. What amazed her most was he didn't stop her when she dragged him to watch a group of street performers. She expected him to stop her or complain about her childishness but he didn't, instead he shared her enthusiasm and actually smiled. That moment stunned her; England rarely smiled and when he did it was never genuine. The thought that she made him smile made her heart flutter and lose her breath slightly.

"Ireland it's getting late, we should go back," England whispered in her ear as they made their way down another random street filled with hundreds of tourists.

"We probably should," she agreed and then looked around for signs to guide them back.

"You don't know where we are, do you?" he questioned, a smirk on his face.

"Don't be crazy, of course I know where we are...we're on... La Rambla," Ireland answered trying to stay confident.

"Yes, but you don't know how to get back, do you?"

"Amm, yea I do... just give me a minute," she paused and looked around, jumping a little to see over the crowds. "I think we go... this way," she pointed in a direction and pulled England after her.

"There are times when I forget how bad you are with directions," England chuckled but allowed himself to be pulled after her. "But, I think we should go back this way and take a left. We actually didn't go too far from the hotel."

Ireland stopped abruptly and pouting turned to England. "Ya could've told me that before," she declared and threw her arms down by her side. "Well lead on then."

Nodding England snaked his hand around her waist and led her back towards the hotel. It was times like that that reminded him how alike Ireland and America are. Although, Ireland was normally more mature unless someone points out her flaws, or she finds something she loves or thinks is cute. When that happened both were as bad as the other. As they walked back slowly, they talked about the city.

"So are you staying here for a bit or going home straight away?" England asked as they turned another corner.

"Heading back to Dublin tomorrow evening straight after the meeting, I would love to hang around but I have too much to do," she answered.

"What are you doing at the weekend?"

"Not sure, I might have some of the counties visiting considering it's nearly the twelfth. But lately they have started staying at their own places around then." She tapped her chin slightly in thought then turned to England and smiled, "why are ya asking?"

"I was just wondering if you would like to visit London on Saturday?" he replied with a smirk.

"I don't think I can leave the country for a wee while, my boss is pretty snappy about my expenditure lately," she sighed. "Oh crap I just remembered North is coming to visit then, he doesn't like staying in Belfast for the twelfth."

England let out a sigh at being rejected and pulled her closer until she rested her head on his shoulder. They were coming close to the hotel now and he wanted to have her near for as long as possible. "Then early next week, how would you feel if I whisked you off for a few days. I'll be paying for everything of course, so there wouldn't be any reason for your boss to complain."

Ireland huddled in closer and considered the offer, eventually she nodded, "that actually sounds pretty nice, we need to get someone to watch North though. He might not like being told to stay with someone else for a while."

"I'm sure Scotland wouldn't mind watching him and the boy is old enough to stay on his own. I have no idea why he can't just spend that weekend and the days after in Belfast, he manages fine the rest of the year."

"You know why, the twelfth brings back too many memories for him and his people still get very, uh excited then. It's not a nice place to be if something starts and you know the poor boy is still haunted by the Troubles."

"Fine. We really shouldn't baby him forever though, everyone else had to learn to deal with stuff like that so maybe it's time he did too."

"I know, but he's my wee baby boy and I will spoil him for as long as I want. Speaking of which are we going to tell him about...," she chuckled then suddenly stopped once they came into view of the hotel. "We need to find another way in." She pointed at the hotel entrance.

"Why would we.." England looked in the direction Ireland was pointing and instantly retracted his arm and pulled her into an alley. France and Australia were standing at the door talking.

"What are we gonna do?" Ireland hissed at England, panic setting in.

"We sneak past them." He answered confidently.

"Oh and how are we gonna do that?"

"You seem to forget I am a fantastic spy and this should be easy considering France is an idiot and Australia is very easily distracted. We need diversions."

"Then how do ya suggest we do that?"

"Easy, I will summon a snake or a spider and then command it to distract Australia. Hopefully that will be enough to scare that damned frog as well," he grinned in response.

"And you're sure ya can do that?" Ireland gaped at him, more than a little suspicious about his abilities; there have been times when he messed up and this is one of those times he did not need Russia appearing.

"Of course, now stand back," he pushed Ireland back and cleared a circle on the ground. Once content he started muttering the spell, the centre of the circle started emitting a dull light that slowly grew brighter until it suddenly went out when England stopped chanting. In the centre of where it was sat scorpions, about twenty very large, very angry scorpions who started making their way towards Ireland the moment they appeared. "Wait!" England commanded and watched amusedly as the scorpions stopped in their tracks. "I need you to go over to those two men and distract them and any others who might be talking to them," he pointed towards the nations at the hotel door and the scorpions followed his line of view. "I don't want you to attack them, just scare most of them and lure the one that will chase you away from that building. Do you understand?" The scorpions clacked their claws together as if to tell England they understood and quickly scuttled towards the hotel. Ireland stood back in shock as she watched England command the scorpions and forced herself to suppress a shudder of disgust at the noises they were making.

"How did you do that? And what happened to the snakes or spiders?" she asked in awe.

"Well I summoned something even more terrifying, didn't I? First though, lets watch Francey Pants get scared like the coward he is," he hummed in excitement. Suddenly a very girlish squeal broke out through the night air. Peaking around the corner they saw France and Australia being surrounded by the scorpions, France was clambering into Australia's arms and was clawing to climb as high as he could. Australia however was beaming in delight and trying to push the blonde nation off him.

"Crikey, they're gorgeous!" he exclaimed and threw France off to the side. France immediately started scrambling up the pillar beside him and screamed when he looked down and saw the scorpions following him. Running out of ideas he jumped down to the ground, careful not to ruin his shoes by avoiding the scorpions. He then fled inside the hotel, his screams echoing down the hallways telling both England and Ireland he had definitely left the reception and was no longer an obstacle. Australia on the other hand, was chasing the scorpions and trying to grab as many as he could. He groaned in frustration when the three he had caught wiggled free and were making their way inside the hotel causing a wave of terrified cries to break out from somewhere inside. He raced after them shouting with glee. After a tense few minutes he appeared again with most in his arms, the rest scuttled outside as quickly as they could and made their way down the footpath in the opposite direction from where England and Ireland were hidden.

England and Ireland watched in utter amazement as the plan came to fruition so successfully. They had to retreat slightly and use each other as support when they almost fell over from laughing. After Australia left they waited until eventually his pleas to get the scorpions to stop so he could hug them faded, they left their hiding space and rushed back into the hotel careful to keep an eye out for anyone near. When they got in they breathed a sigh of relief noticing the place was deserted. Extremely grateful the scorpions were so successful they made their way to England's room. They had to change direction a few times when they almost ran into Germany and Italy but made it back without being caught.

"So what's going to happen to the scorpions?" Ireland giggled and sat down on the edge of the bed.

"They will disappear once they leave Australia's sight over the next ten minutes," England grinned and slowly walked over to were Ireland was sitting, leaning down to press their foreheads together.

"Wouldn't that be suspicious?" she asked, her giggles now dissipating until she could only smile up at him.

"Yes and no, they won't disappear until he loses sight of them and they will disappear one by one. So hopefully it will only appear as if they escaped and he should give up," with that he leaned in closer and pushed their lips together.

"What if they don't?" she muttered pulling away.

"Then he will have a few more pets," he was about to kiss her again when a loud knock interrupted him. "How about we ignore that?" he murmured and kissed her, this time deepening the kiss, making Ireland gasp into his mouth. Another knock on the door broke the silence this time louder and much more urgent.

"Yo, Iggy are you in? Dude I need to talk to you." America's voice rang out through the air.

England glared at the door and hoped somehow that America would get bored and leave. He didn't.

"Iggy if you're sleeping wake up. I'm coming in, I got a key from reception. Apparently saying that you're my brother and that you have epilepsy and need to be watched means I get a spare key to your room," he called out cheerfully. "So dude last warning, on the count of three I'm coming in!"

England and Ireland stared at each other; there was no way America could find them together in England's room, alone after both of them disappeared after Ireland went to find England.

"Hide," England commanded and kicked off his shoes, loosened his shirt and ruffled his clothes a bit. "I'll pretend I was asleep and get rid of him, but you need to hide now."

Ireland nodded and looked around the room, spotting a large wardrobe she bolted to it and shut the door after her. Once inside she noticed there was a gap large enough to allow her to see out from but not large enough to let people see her.

"Three, dude I'm coming in now!" America exclaimed and Ireland could hear him messing at the door. Before he could open it England swung it open and greeted him with a scowl.

"What are you playing at, git?" England asked, his voice laced with anger.

"Woah, relax. I just wanted to talk to you," America said and held his hands up in a sign of surrender. He was doing a lot of that around England lately. "I was worried about you, normally I find you at a bar or something after you run off, but you weren't there and no-one else had seen you..." he trailed off.

"I was tired and hungry so I just got something to eat and went to sleep," England retorted, his eyebrows furrowed together in annoyance.

"Huh, well I was still worried man. This really isn't like you," America said and pushed past England into the room.

"Oh yes, please come in. It's not like I was busy or anything," England commented sarcastically. "Which reminds me, give me that key."

"This," America held up the key card, "Oh this isn't yours. I just said it was so you would open the door." He sent England one of his heroic smiles and moved to the still open door to show England it in fact didn't work. "I was hoping you would answer, otherwise I wouldn't have gotten in and would have looked like an idiot."

England gaped at the taller nation, at that moment he wanted to strangle the laughing former colony. "Remind me why I talk to you?" he scowled.

"Because I'm awesome and wickle Iggy just loves me so much," America answered chirpily and wrapped his arms around himself to exaggerate England's supposed emotions.

"Sure, that's the reason. It must have nothing to do with the fact that you're so clingy I can't bloody get rid of you, is it?" he replied dryly.

"Aww, I'm not clingy, you just haven't realised it yet."

"Of course, of course. Now why are you really here?"

"Can't I just check up on you?"

"No, you can't."

"Well isn't someone grumpier than usual. I was actually just wondering if you would mind telling me who you were with last night?" he stood twiddling his thumbs as England shot daggers at him. "I mean come on, others know and I don't. It's not fair."

"What gives you the right to know about my business and who the hell knows?" England was furious now.

"Amm, well France said he knows and I think Poland and Australia know."

Ireland grimaced at the revelation that Poland knew, how could he tell people he knew? She was going to have a word with him as soon as possible.

"How do they know?" England asked and tried to keep his voice calm

"Well France said he knows who scratches like that and Poland just said flat out that he knows but won't tell anyone. Him and France talked about it and they both seem to be thinking of the same person... and Australia said he had to sleep in New Zealand's room because his room is next door to yours and... well he also sent a message to tell you to keep quiet tonight..." he trailed off as he felt the bright red blush creep up on his cheeks. He looked up and smirked at seeing England's reaction, his former teacher was now a bright red and speechless. "Yo Iggy, you ok?"

"Wh-what? Australia was next door? Where is he now? I..uh I shit.. so many people know and how the hell did Poland know?" he stammered.

"Poland said he's "like totes besties" with whoever it was, so now that everyone else knows can you tell me?" he explained, hopeful his honesty would win England over.

"No, I can't. Now I wish you would bugger off and leave us, ME alone!" England snapped and tried to push the American out of his room.

"Us? Wait is she in here?" his eyes lit up in delight at the thought of finding out who the mystery girl was.

"No she is not! Now get out of here, I'm tired of all these questions. You have no right to ask about any of this," he fumed and glared at America.

"I do, as a trusted and loyal friend I have a say in who my best friend decides to date," he announced and successfully forced England to stop trying to push him out the door.

"Best friend? What kind of nonsense is that?" he asked, his gaze wide with shock. It was strange that America considered them so close.

"Who else would be the hero's best friend?" he looked at the green eyed mans blank response, "That's right no-one because I always need my trusty sidekick to help me!"

THUMP!

Suddenly America's world went dark and was replaced by an encompassing pain in his head. Ireland stood over him, a very large book in her hands.

"Sorry sweetie but ya really needed to shut up," she muttered to him and knelt down to lift him off the ground. That was all America heard. The next morning he woke up with a killer headache and a brief memory of getting hit, he could vaguely recall an accented voice apologising for hitting him but he dismissed it when he remembered the name the person used. Only Ireland called him sweetie and well, there was no way Ireland would hit him. She was almost as heroic as he was! Almost, America was the hero and no-one could be more heroic than him.

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Hope this was good ^^ and next chapter should be up pretty soon cause most of it's written already and I just need to finish and edit it :D


	6. The one with the mark

Not a lot of content but I thought I should cut it here cause otherwise it would end up very long.

So yea second chapter in 48 hours :D I would have updated this yesterday if I had time to edit it -.-

Thanks for everyone reviewing, favouriting etc ^^ You guys make my day

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America sat up in his bed and cradled his head to ease the throbbing pain, how the hell did he get into bed? The last thing he remembered was talking to England about his supposed new girlfriend and then black. He sighed and flopped out of bed and into the shower in hopes it would clear his mind and ease the headache. It was still there when he left his room to get breakfast, the whole way through breakfast he sat quietly contemplating who had knocked him out, England was standing in front of him so there was no way it would have been him. Then who did it? Racking his brain for information it refused to give him he eventually gave up with an over-exaggerated sigh and slowly trudged towards the last meeting. He had less then twelve hours to find out who England was with and by the time he reached the meeting room he was pumped and ready to go. However he needed a new strategy if he was going to find out. Asking straight out was not working, so he sat quietly and waited for England to appear. Looking around he noticed a few nations still missing, England being one of them. He also noticed that thankfully the windows were now open and there was a shiny new thermostat on the wall. It took everything he had to stop himself from launching into a plan of action that would involve everyone to help him find out who England's new woman was. Ok, by now he had to admit he was obsessed and since France told him England most definitely slept with a woman he had to know, why though he had no clue. But he had to find out who she was and see if she was good enough. Maybe he was being overprotective of the grumpy Brit, but England should know by now how curious he was! It's not his fault he had an intense interest in England's life, was it?

Another nation entered the room, turning slightly America watched Ireland make her way to her seat and converse quietly with an exhausted looking Australia who had a huge scorpion on his shoulder. Australia seemed smug and quietly started teasing her; he stopped once she hit him and told him off. Shrugging America brushed off their behaviour as normal, although he was a bit concerned about Australia's new pet. Soon nearly all the nations were seated and Germany stood to start the meeting. Suddenly the door opened again and in walked England, his head held high as he made his way to his seat beside America. Sitting down he ignored the younger nation and instead focused on setting his notes up. It was then that he noticed it. Gasping he threw himself out of his seat and crashed into Canada to his left.

"England, what the hell is that?" he asked in shock.

"I suppose it would be a reminder," he muttered and brushed an angry red mark on his neck, his face lit up in a huge blush that he tried to ignore. A wave of giggles erupted through the room.

"Onhonhonhonhon, well, well, well Angleterre, it seems your new lady must be a real 'rebel' to mark a man such as yourself," France teased from his seat behind the Brit. "So I am too assume you two are an item now?"

"Shut up you frog and there is a chance, we haven't figured anything out quite yet," he murmured in reply. It was hard to force himself to remain calm in front of these two idiots and it was only a matter of time until more started teasing him. "Germany, can we get this meeting started?"

Germany nodded at the suggestion and quickly called the meeting into order. England was the first to talk and more giggles erupted from the nations accompanied by a few mocking kissing noises. Pulling his notes together he started reaming off the information and tried desperately to not let the others get to him. Surprisingly he had made it through his speech and the rest of the meeting without exploding and starting a fight with France. Lunch was another obstacle, he knew he couldn't avoid the pushy America and having already decided him and Ireland would spend as little time together as possible he couldn't sneak off with her. That didn't stop them texting though, which caused the American who had resorted to stalking him to suddenly burst into new questions everytime the phone buzzed. For the first time in his life he was glad they had to go back into a meeting once lunch ended. Thankfully the rest of the meeting went without a hitch, things fell back into normality after a while and it seemed like most people forgot about England's rendezvous the previous nights. When the meeting was over England bolted from the room and quickly packed and left for the airport and boarded his private jet before anyone could follow him.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

_Meanwhile_

"Hey Ireland!" Prussia called as he jogged down the hallway towards her, "So I heard you had an awesome time last night." He winked cheekily at her and hooked their arms together.

"Now tell me how ya would know anything about what I did last night?" she retorted.

"Cause I followed you and you two were just so wovey dovey I thought I was gonna be sick! Seriously it's awesome you guys are together or whatever it is, but wow I never thought England would act like that!" he answered as casually as he could. Ireland stopped dead in her tracks and sent him a death glare.

"You stalked us? Why the feck would ya even.." she was cut off by Prussia.

"Because I'm awesome enough to look out for my friends." Ireland couldn't counter that, it's true Prussia was surprisingly loyal and he might have had some good motives.

"What all did ya see?" she asked hesitantly.

"Well I was in the bar when you got there... so pretty much everything. I almost cheered when you guys kissed. It was so adorable," he teased and wrapped his arms around himself and started making kissing noises. Ireland gaped at him unable to find a response. "Don't worry, the awesome Prussia will help his friend!"

"O..ok but ya didn't tell anyone already did ya?"

"Nope I didn't, but France told me and Spain so I might have admitted to being more awesome than him and knowing before he did."

Ireland nodded slightly, looking around she noticed they were getting close to her room. She had to pack and get her jet back to Dublin in the next hour. "Prussia I need to head soon, so can ya please just keep that a secret? Honestly I don't know what's happening there but ya were right I do like him and maybe things will work out. If they don't well, I don't want to drag anyone else into it. You see how America, Canada and Australia and the rest of the former colonies treat us." She was begging and it hurt her pride a little but at that point she didn't care.

"Well Australia knows already," Ireland grimaced at the knowledge, Australia had teased her all morning about England, even getting a silence charm placed on him didn't work he just mimed all his actions instead. "Ja, he told us yesterday evening after the meeting. He was the one that told France to wait at the front door."

"Wait, if ya were following us all evening how did Australia tell you about everything?" Ireland asked, her brows furrowed slightly in confusion.

"Because they filled me in when I found them all again, by the way awesome plan to get rid of them. Even if it did take me hours to find France," Prussia sent her a thumbs up and grinned wickedly at her.

"It was all England's idea, I wanted to find another way in," she shrugged off the compliment knowing that it was England's effort that got rid of France and Australia.

"Still it was awesome, but ja I am going to be the most awesome friend ever and keep your secret. BUT you owe me," with that he ran off waving his goodbye. Ireland watched him leave and then went into her room, she threw all her things into her bag and made her way out of the hotel. If there was one thing she despised about these meetings, it was packing and unpacking her stuff. She was never very organised and being forced to sort her stuff out was like hell. It didn't take her long to hail a cab outside the hotel and within an hour she was on her jet and heading back to Dublin.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

"England! What took ye so long?" A rough voice called through the house when England closed the door behind him. Sighing England started lugging his suitcase upstairs to his room.

"Traffic, now what brings you all the way to London?" he answered eventually when he got to the top of his stairs.

"Aww can't a guy come and see his wee brother?" the man teased and poked his head around the corner. England glared down the stairs at seeing the red haired man grinning at the bottom.

"Normally I would say yes, but on this occasion I won't. Now tell me the real reason," he retorted and started moving his suitcase down the hall. Running up the stairs Scotland grabbed England's suitcase and threw it up onto his shoulders with ease. England shot another glare at his older brothers back but followed him nonetheless.

"Well I came to chat about North, ye know how he always stays with Ireland for the twelfth, well this time he asked if he could stay with me. I was gonna ask if it was ok with ye," Scotland asked and marched into England's room then plopped the suitcase onto the bed.

"I don't see why not, you have to ask Ireland though. She might have something planned."

"Ack, sure she won't say... Where did ye get that?" he pointed at England's neck.

England's eyes snapped open and his hand went to cover his neck, shit he thought to himself, he forgot to cover it again. This morning it was purely to shock America but this time it was an accident. The last person he needed seeing the mark was Scotland. "I.. I got in a fight and got hit!" he stammered and slowly retreated out of the room.

"Like I'd believe that! Now who were ye with?" Scotland asked moving closer to the shorter Brit.

"No-one and why would it be of any concern to you?" England countered and turned to make his way to the kitchen. He needed tea, and fast.

"Cause I'm yer big brother! I think I should know who my baby brother is sleeping with," Scotland teased and followed him down the stairs.

"No you don't!"

"Aye, I think I do. Ye know ye need my approval." England gaped at the man and then a noise upstairs caught their attention.

"What are yez shouting about?" came a sleepy voice from the top of the stairs that was accompanied by footsteps.

"North, it's nothing. Now go back to bed," England told him once he appeared at the door. Glancing up at the clock England winced realising it was well after midnight, how long did that trip take?

North stood slumped in the doorway, leaning slightly on his left shoulder against the frame. He rubbed his eyes tiredly, he was wearing striped blue pyjama bottoms that hung off his slim teenage frame and the shirt missing. His copper hair sitting messily on his head, random strands stuck out in every direction and made it look like a wild bush. He had light skin and a small scar running across the bridge on his nose. Slowly he took his hands away from his eyes and peered at the elder nations. His eyes were bright despite how tired he was, his left eye shone a bright grass green, the right a sky blue. Most assumed his eye colours came from the split in his people, but they could never find any other cause when he was a baby so they let it go and accepted his eyes might possibly stay like that and they did. Standing sleepily at the door he looked impossibly young for a nation, around sixteen.

"Naw, yez woke me up now what were ye shouting about?" he argued and crossed his arms.

"Well lad, ye might have a new mum or dad soon!" Scotland exclaimed with a grin.

"Huh? What do ye mean by that?"

"Look at yer dads neck," Scotland was like a child in a sweet shop, seeing his little brother squirm was one of his not so secret pleasures.

"Holy shit, how the hell did ye get that?" North suddenly shouted and raced over to examine England's neck. "Woah, who did that?"

England pushed Northern Ireland away and grabbed a cup from the cupboard. "None of your business, and Scotland don't be stupid."

"Aww come on dad, ye have to tell me. I'm your son and if anyone gets a say in who you are allowed to date then I do," North whined and moved closer to his uncle.

"Since when did I ever need permission on who I am and am not allowed to date?" England scowled at the two red haired nations. Shuffling over to the kettle he quickly poured the boiling water into the cup and grabbed a teabag from the pot beside it. Stirring it he tried to block out the snickers coming from behind him.

"Cause someone has to look out for ye," Scotland remarked and swung his arm around England's shoulders. Suddenly England's phone buzzed in his shirt pocket, he had taken off his jacket once he got into the house so the others saw the phone light up. Without thinking North grabbed the phone and checked the screen.

"Aww it's just mum," he pouted and handed the phone back to England. England sighed in relief, secretly thanking that he had the foresight to only set his phone to show the sender and not actual message content.

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Finally have Northern Ireland and Scotland in this :D Next chapter involves people finding out and all the fun that goes along with trying to keep the relationship a secret.

So am yea hope this chapter is good and people think my portrayal of Northern Ireland is ok. His character will develop more in the next chapter ^^

Next chapter will be out soon :D Thank college for giving me more time to procrastinate XD


	7. The one with the phonecall

Went back and did some editing on all the chapters but it's nothing major just some rewording and correcting some typos ^^ The only thing that really did change was in the last chapter when I introduced North, it was just saying he looks around 16 years old. I genuinely can't accept that modern Northern Ireland did not come into existence until a year before Ireland got independence and thus my reasoning for his age... before that was Ulster and it seems so wrong to me and a lot of people I know to say Ulster is the North... . (3 counties in Ulster being in ROI)

Well anyways next chapter :D It's another filler chapter but well... it had to be written, you know plot building and stuff ;_;

Thank you **thebackofthebooklies thebewilderedhorse **and **Anima's Illusion** for your reviews :D Also thanks to everyone who read this far and favourited and followed. Was not expecting such a result from something I started writing thanks to a sugar rush :O

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Taking the phone from North England unlocked it and quickly read the message.

**_Hey, mind calling me about the plans for North this weekend?_**

Rereading it England guessed Ireland was afraid someone else might have read it first considering how much privacy he normally got.

"What does she want?" Scotland asked before England could do anything.

"She just wants to finalise North's plans for this weekend," he replied and showed his brother the text.

"Ah right then tell her not to worry cause the best uncle in the world is going to watch him," Scotland grinned at him.

"Very well then.."

"Wait let me tell her!" Scotland cut him off and grabbed for the phone, England sent him a death glare as he watched his older brother find Ireland's number and quickly dial it.

_Ring_

_Ring _

"Well it's about time ya called me back I was starting to wonder if ya forgot about our.." Ireland answered.

"Well lass, is that how ye talk to yer best friend?" Scotland asked teasingly and chuckled at the look England was sending him.

"Wait, what? Scotland why are ya on his phone?" She replied sounding slightly shocked. For some reason he could have sworn she was panicking a bit, but he pushed that thought to the back of his mind.

"Aw now lass, ye know as well as I do that I would take any opportunity to talk to ye and annoy my darling wee brother."

"I guess that's true, so how have ya been?"

"Now that's how you talk to yer best friend! Things have been good might finally have given up the fags. Now onto business; mind if North stays with me this weekend. England said ye might've been planning something."

Ireland paused for a second before answering. "I don't see why not, what are ya planning anyway?"

"Just want to catch up with the lad, for being the world's greatest uncle I barely get to see him."

"Well that's true... sure ya can have him stay over at your place. But no drinking, got it?" she threatened. Scotland couldn't help but remember the last time he took North out drinking, it was for the new millennium and he had to agree with Ireland. Allowing North to drink is a mistake. The night had started alright, they went to a party Spain was throwing and for some stupid reason they let North drink. The next thing they knew Romano and North had gotten into a fight and the balcony was blown up. From what Ireland and Scotland learnt, North and Romano had gotten into an argument about potatoes and North somehow put a bomb together from what was on the buffet table. How he did that they never knew, but they did learn North was a very violent drunk.

"Aye, he's not going to be drinking," Scotland confirmed with a slight nod and glanced at North who was watching him carefully. "I'm going to be taking him up to one of my castles and then showing him how to hunt."

"Good, he might actually enjoy that." Ireland sounded relieved, "can ya put England on? I need to chat to him about the meeting we have next week."

"Aye sure, one question before ye go. You were at the world meetings, right? Do ye know who gave my adorable brother that huge love bite?" Scotland asked with a grin.

"Love bite? Amm... no clue, sure why would I know anything about that? Seriously lad, ya make it sound like we get on really well," Ireland rushed trying to convince Scotland she was clueless.

"I guess yer right, I was hoping ye heard something from the others," Scotland chuckled, "right I'll hand ye over to England now. We have to catch up soon, it's been too long since we went for a drink."

"It has, I'll get back to ya when I get some free time. I don't even have time to think lately," she laughed. "Sure chat then, bye."

"Bye, and ye better let me know soon or I'll land at yer front door sometime," with that Scotland handed the phone back to England and turned to tell North the good news. England snatched the phone off him and quickly made his way to his study, locking the door behind him and leaving North and Scotland to discuss their plans in the kitchen.

"You do realise how dangerous it is to call me while I am at home?" he asked as he held the phone up to his ear and sat down behind his desk. For some strange reason the study was very warm, but he put it down the unnatural heat wave London was getting.

"I couldn't resist it and if ya think about it, thanks to my very convenient call I have the weekend free now. So if ya wanted we can arrange something for then," she replied with ease, trying to tempt the grumpy Brit.

"Well I suppose that is true, now any ideas what you wanted to do?"

"Not a clue, I was leaving up to the big strong man to think of that," England knew Ireland was flirting but decided to play along, that and it made him feel very important so who was he to complain? Although he did have to fight the blush that was forming on his cheeks, he was alone now but knowing his brothers that wouldn't last very long.

"I was thinking about maybe going to see a play on the west end and then dinner at the best restaurant in London."

"So I'm guessing you want to fly me over to see you?" Ireland purred in response.

"Of course I do, I promised to whisk you away for a few days and I always keep my promises."

"Aww isn't that sweet, now when are you planning this?"

A sudden rustle behind England stopped him from answering, "Hold on a minute, I thought I heard something. Just let me check." He tells Ireland and puts the phone down on the desk. Slowly he walks over to the curtains and pulls them back, allowing an orange glow from the streetlight outside to illuminate the room. He looks around and takes in the room and its contents, keeping an eye out for anything out of place. It was an old study filled with dark mahogany furniture. Each piece had a lion engraved into it and they all bore the same intricate designs. The walls had patterned burgundy and cream wallpaper that matched the burgundy curtains. Looking around, paying more attention to the corners he tried to find something or someone who shouldn't be there. Finding nothing he walked over to the bookshelf and analysed it, his brothers had a penchant for taking his books or replacing them with cursed ones. Happy they hadn't been messed with he sat back down on his chair and pushed his paranoia to the back of his mind. As far as he could tell everything was were it should be, which was strange in itself but maybe his brothers got bored of teasing him? Even North's spy equipment was absent so he was free to talk about whatever he wished.

"Sorry about that, I thought I heard something but I must have been imagining it," he told Ireland as he put the phone to his ear.

"Awww, are ya getting paranoid you'll get caught talking to me?" she teased.

"Don't be absurd, I'm paranoid that my brothers will do something or have set up a trap. You know how they are."

"Of course I do! Who else would've helped them with some of their more successful pranks?"

"Yes, well you're not here now and I know what you have been doing whilst I was gone," he retorted and forced himself to hold back a growl. The pranks and curses his brother normally pulled on him were bad, but when Ireland had a helping hand things were worse. Since the last big prank they pulled which involved a lot of water he had gotten a lot more suspicious. It was remembering that that he realised a bead of sweat was dripping down his forehead. Did this office suddenly get very warm? It was almost as if the source had gotten closer, but that was ridiculous. Trying to push past the stifling heat he loosened his collar and undid the top buttons on his shirt and desperately tried to to listen to what Ireland was saying, her words merging into a mumble. This office is far too warm, he needed to open a window or something now.

"I need to open a window, it's getting really hot in here but I'll put you on speaker," he said defeated and put the phone down and on speaker.

"England, were you even listening and are ya sure no-one's listening?" she asked, her voice echoing through the room. A silent gasp was emitted from somewhere in a darkened corner beside Englands desk.

"Of course love and there's no-one else here, now you were saying about our plans and something about making things more complicated for me next Monday?" he asked and pushed the window open. "Now, how pray tell are you planning to do that?"

"Easy, I'm guessing North and Scotland took the piss out of ya for that mark on your neck?" she laughed, "how do you think they would react if you had a few more?"

"If you leave another mark on my neck you do know I will have to return the favour?" he retorted and gazed down on the street below.

"Well I guess all's fair and all that," Ireland teased. Suddenly the door flew open and England stood frozen in place and stared at Scotland who was now standing in the doorway, a screwdriver in his hand the door hanging off one hinge.

"There ye are Wales, we were looking for you!" he said gleefully. England spun and paled at seeing Wales standing in the corner, his pet dragon wrapped around his shoulders and a victorious smirk on his face.

"Please don't tell them," England begged in nothing more than a whimper. Scotland looked between them, a confused look on his face.

"Your secret's safe with me little brother, but on one condition that I will tell you about later," he answered and sauntered out of the room. England could only watch him leave and drag Scotland behind him, his eyes wide in fear. Wales had been there the whole time, he knew, and that was why the room was so warm. He had that godforsaken dragon with him!

"England! What happened? Answer me," came Ireland's voice from the phone. Snapping out of his thoughts England reached for the phone, turned it off speaker and started explaining everything to her as quickly as he could.

"Find out what he wants tomorrow, and make sure he keeps his mouth shut!" Ireland ordered, "I think I should head now, it's pretty obvious it's not safe to talk and next time when a room gets warmer and you can't figure out why, it's Wales. You know that he's as bad as Canada for disappearing."

"Canada?" England asked, the name rang a bell but he was having a hard time placing it.

"God! I honestly don't know why he even talks to half of you guys. Seriously how the hell can you forget America's twin?"

"Oh yes... America's twin..."

"You still don't remember? Come on he's one of your former colonies, he has a bear? He makes amazing pancakes and is fantastic at hockey?"

"Pancakes... Oh yes Canada! Bloody hell, how could I forget him?"

"Look I don't know but anyway I really have to go now, so bye for now."

"Very well and I'll find out what Wales wants, chat later."

"Good." Ireland replied quickly and hung up leaving England to stare at the desk in front of him and figure out a plan. After five minutes he pulled himself off his seat and went to find Wales, a plan almost fully formed in his mind.

He found Wales in the living room watching one of his favourite reality tv shows. England shuddered at the mass of orange people on the tv screen. Oh how he hated that aspect of his culture.

"We need to talk about what you heard earlier," he said and took a seat beside his brother. Wales ignored him and continued to absentmindedly pet his dragon and watch tv. "Wales, this is important." He was still ignored, sighing he stood up and turned off the tv.

"Hey I was watching that!" Wales yelled at him, his dragon tensing on his shoulder and preparing to attack.

"Now that I have your attention, we need to discuss what you heard," England ordered, honestly he could understand all his brothers but Wales still confused him. How could someone who could literally go invisible and be as docile as a lamb, suddenly get so angry over a tv show or something else just as trivial?

"Really? I already told you that I'm not going to tell anyone who you're dating. I have only one question though," Wales argued and crossed his arms.

"Now what would that be?" England questioned.

"Are you going to hurt her again? Cause if you do this time you WILL pay for it."

"...No I won't," England answered after a pause, the question shook him. Normally Wales is relaxed about everything apart from rugby, his dragon, his favourite tv shows and sheep; so to see him so serious about something else was shocking.

Wales glared at him for a moment before continuing, "Look, I know you say that now and you only have good intentions, but I swear if you so much as rethink anything I will tell Scotland and he will kill you." Wales' voice had dissolved into a growl as he stared England down.

"I swear I will never do anything to ruin this," England told him and walked out of the room, he was tired and he didn't want to be lectured on something he already knew. Wales watched him leave before getting up to turn the tv back on. Sitting back down on the couch he pulled his little scarlet dragon onto his lap, it purring contently as they both watched the orange people on the tv.

At the top of the stairs he stopped and looked back, he forgot to ask Wales what his condition was. Huffing he decides to leave it until the next morning, he was too tired right now and it was probably best not to interrupt Wales's tv for a second time in a row.

* * *

Ok leaving it here for now... not exactly happy about that but I want to get something up before next week when once again I will be bombarded with assignments and tests. To be honest the only reason I had time to write this was cause I have a very bad cold now and had to take time off... so yea let me know what you think ^^

Also any opinions on Wales? I couldn't pin down one aspect of Wales's culture and kinda went with a multiple personality thing in the end... oh and he had to have a pet dragon. I always kinda imagined him as the more sane one out of England's brothers, but with a darker side of course.

Just explaining why North is the way he is, well cause of the Troubles and everything that caused I had to make that come into effect in his personality. So normally he is very happy go lucky, when he drinks he is super violent and likes blowing stuff up.


	8. The one with the plan

I should be doing an assignment but it's so freaking technical with big long computer words I took a break and wrote this... I am a terrible student XD

Thank you **ThatScienceChick**, **IrishMaid** and **thebewilderedhorse** for your reviews, they were so awesome! :D

**IrishMaid** I could write that . I was going to go into more detail but then decided not to thanks to time constraints so I might make in into a one shot soon :D I'm strange were I kinda pair Spain and Romano but only when Romano grows up and starts doing his own thing. Before it's definitely a father/son relationship and I hate to think of Spain having those kind of feelings for Romano when he was a kid ;_; It's just so wrong. I prefer to think he grew into those feelings after Romano broke away. Either way, not pairing them at all in any of my stories (non AU ones anyway)

**ThatScienceChick** I never even thought of a potato bomb :O I just had the idea he created a bomb and had no idea how, but it would be a funny idea to play with XD I might possibly add that to the one shot . Still really appreciate the review and that your reading this :D The leaving cert is a joy that must be suffered through :P

Anyways didn't have much time to edit this cause of my stupid college workload so any mistakes don't be afraid to point them out.

Oh yea another character reappears now and he's gonna be staying in it for the majority of the rest of the story :D Well enjoy!

* * *

"Scotland," a voice whispered through the darkness. Shutting his eyes tighter together Scotland turned over in his bed and pulled the blankets closer around him.

"Scotland, wake up. I need your help with this!" That voice again, Scotland grumbled under his breath and pried his eyes open to look at the clock. It was 4:56am, the bright red numbers illuminated on the clock beside his bed telling him that no sane person would be awake at such a time. Somehow convincing himself the voice was in a dream he pulled the blankets over his head and tried to get back to sleep.

"Yo dude, get up! If you don't get up I'll flip this mattress." This time Scotland recognised the voice and the accent, grimacing he turned around and peered into the darkness straight up at the tall blonde sitting on the side of his bed, his wide smile almost lighting up the room. "Took you long enough, now come on I need you to help me with my plan!"

"Fuck off America, I'm not in the mood to help you with your 'plan' now. It's five to fucking five in the morning, what kind of idiot is up at this time?" Scotland growled at the younger nation and kicked him off the bed, forcing the other to yelp in surprise.

"Not cool! The plan is about Iggy! You probably saw the mark on his neck and I want to find out who he's dating. By the way dude if I had a choice I would not be in here. It stinks, did something die?" America whined at him and rubbed his elbow from where he hit the ground.

"It can wait till the morning, I'm trying to sleep and nothing died in here," Scotland retorted and pushed himself to sit up on the bed, glaring down at the blonde.

"Well it sure smells like it or were you eating something funky? Cause dude I know you eat some crazy stuff!"

"What the hell are ye saying lad?" Scotland was very annoyed now and hunched over, gripping the sheets to stop himself from hitting the American.

"That you should really watch what you eat, some things are not good for you." Scotland glared at him again and threw the sheets to the side and marched out of his room and down the hall; America following closely behind. Stopping at another door he turned to America, his dark green eyes burning in annoyance.

"Look lad, how about we talk about this at a better time and till then sleep in here with North. There's a spare bed and as long as you don't do anything stupid I doubt he would mind," he told him, his voice both quiet and urgent. He then opened the door and stuck his head inside. "Hey, North. America just landed and needs a place to sleep, mind if he sleeps here?" An almost silent grumble answered him but it told Scotland all he needed to know. "When he wakes up try not to freak him out. Trust me the lad probably wants to know who our dear wee England is seeing more than you. Oh and try not to make too much noise, I doubt the fairies like outsiders waking them up."

"O..k... well dude thanks for putting me up, I guess and I promise to stay quiet. Don't worry I'm a hero and a hero always keeps his promise!" he sent Scotland one of his trademark hero poses and shuffled past him into the dark room dragging a huge duffel bag behind him and avoiding clutter and piles of clothes on the floor. He glanced to his left and saw North sleeping in his bed, his face buried in the pillow as he lay like a starfish on the mattress, his blankets just barely covering his feet.

"Lad, how long are ye staying for?" Scotland hissed after him once he noticed the bag.

"Not too long, most of this is food anyway," America whispered back and sat down on his own bed. Opening the bag he pulled out a handful of Willy Wonka sweets and sent Scotland a grin. "Dude I need these, they're too expensive here and they suck cause they're not the real ones I get back home."

Slapping his hand to his forehead Scotland turned and closed the door silently behind him only to hear America start to talk again. "Scottie, you can't tell Iggy I'm here." Scotland looked around at the American, dumbfounded by his latest revelation. "I might have snuck in and totally planned an awesome spy thing to find out who his new girlfriend is." Scotland stood frozen in place for a moment processing the new information. So England has a girlfriend huh? That makes solving the mystery a lot easier.

"Right lad, yer secret's safe. Now go to sleep, I'll wake ye up in a few hours and explain everything to North... he might not be too happy about sharing a room." With that he closed the door, leaving a very confused America sitting on his bed. Why would North not be happy about sharing a room? Would he do something to him? America's mind raced at the memories of the stories he was told about North's past, he did not like them and was almost afraid about what the nation could do. Whimpering he whipped the blankets into a cocoon around himself and fell off into a fitful sleep.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

The next morning he woke with a start and stared up a pair of green eyes, each boring into his own blue eyes. Scotland stood above his bed glaring down at him, bags under his eyes and a cup of tea in his hand. The room was unbearably hot and made it hard to breathe.

"Yer finally up?" an annoyed voice came from the other side of the room. Turning America saw North sitting on his bed, his arms crossed and feet tucked under him. He glared at the American, his face set in a scowl.

"Am, yea totally. So like are you guys gonna help me with my plan?" he asked and sat up. Scotland and Wales moved away and stood at the door. "Can you open a window or something, cause it's like a furnace in here?"

"Want to tell us what that plan is?" another voice asked from beside North. Reaching for his glasses on the bed side locker, America squinted when he put them on at the noticeably sunken spot beside the young redhead. Suddenly a man with bright green eyes, light brown hair and the most freckles America has ever seen appeared. He held the same glare the others did.

"Crap Wales, don't scare me like that!" America jumped backwards and hit the wall with a loud thump. Wales shrugged at his reaction but remained in place, his glare never faltering. "Ok, I get it. Well as the hero I need to make sure Iggy is with someone who matches his sidekick status. According to France, Poland and now Prussia he's dating a girl and I'm pretty sure it's a nation too cause they got together at the meeting. I don't think Iggy would have met a human there... would he?"

"I don't think he would have," North agreed with him and shot a look at Scotland. "So how do the others know?"

"France knows cause he saw the scratches on his back, he said he knows who does that," North grimaced at the mention of that, thankfully for him America ignore him and continued explaining everything. "Poland said he's best friends with her or something like that, and Prussia found out cause he's 'awesome'. I think other people know... wait Australia knows too!"

Scotland perked up at that, he could work with Australia. He could ask France as well but he always asked for something in return and Scotland wasn't sure he would be able to give France what he would ask for. Before he could ask America anything North piped up again.

"How does Australia know?"

"Ah his room was right beside Iggy's and they were-"

"Ok I got it! Trust me I do not need that mental picture!" North all but shouted as he cut America off, his eyes wide in panic.

"What were you expecting? I know it's hard to believe but England has been in relationships before and you of all people can't ignore that," Wales told him.

"Nananananana I'm not listening," North sang and held his hands over his ears and scrunched up his eyes in an attempt to block out their conversation.

"What's his problem?" America asked.

"He hates the thought of England having a love life," Scotland chuckled.

"Oh, but why can't he ignore it? I mean is your brother, I would tease... Canada, yea that's his name, all the time if he found someone."

"America trust me we do, but North is a wee bit different. He really hates the thought of England with anyone. It's complicated." Scotland was hoping America wouldn't pry any further, the fact North was England and Ireland's son was a secret no-one outside the British Isles and France knew about.

"Oh, ok then. Now onto the plan!" America announced and stood up from the bed.

"North stop that," Wales slapped North on the back of the head to stop him from singing and pay attention to the conversation now it was on a safer topic. North whined at the contact and rubbed the back of his head.

"Fine, what do ye have planned?" North asked and shifted further from Wales.

"I need your help to track him for a few days; I want to see if he meets up with anyone or try and catch him on the phone." America beamed.

"I suppose that's not too hard, but lad where are ye gonna stay? We can't keep ye here and I'm taking North back home for the weekend, so ye can't stay too long." Scotland told him.

"Relax I got this. I'm gonna stay in a hotel, trust me dude I know it's not safe staying here. I just couldn't find a place to stay last night so I snuck in here..."

"By the way how did ye even get in?" Scotland asked.

"When I got here I knocked and the door just opened, I didn't see anyone so I let myself in." America answered innocently and Scotland sent a glare at Wales who shrugged at the attention.

"Aye the next time something happens and ye don't see anyone around, it's Wales ye might want to thank him or even try and see him." Scotland warned him. A suddenly shuffle down the hall caused him to stiffen. "Get under the bed now!"

America and North looked at him confused only to have Wales grab him by the shirt and toss him under the bed like he was a rag doll. As soon as he was safely hidden the door opened and England walked in.

"What is everyone doing in here so early?" he asked taking in the mess the room was in and curling his lip in disgust.

"We were planning North's trip, why'd ye need to ask?" Scotland said cheerfully wearing a very fake, very happy smile and pulled his brother to his side.

"Aye, we were talking about going fishing and visiting Nessie," North supplied and pasted an equally fake and happy smile on his face.

"I see... I'm going to make breakfast now. Anyone want anything?" England asked and nodded at their response.

"How about I cook?" Scotland offered jumping to the door to block England from leaving.

"There's no way in hell I'm letting you cook! England's bad enough but you should never be allowed near a kitchen!" Wales scowled and pushed past his brothers and raced down the hall to start preparing breakfast. England and Scotland glared after him.

"I can cook perfectly well," England mumbled under his breath and brushed past Scotland, he stopped just outside the room and turned back, "North I need you to call your m-"

"Relax wee brother. We already got it sorted, do ye really think I wouldn't think of that? Now go on and get something to eat. We'll be down in a bit," he rushed and then shooed the Brit away, closing the door behind him. "Lad ye need to get out of here now," he told America and pulled him from under the bed.

"Yea sure, what was Iggy saying before you cut him off?" America asked and brushed off the dust he had gathered under the bed, it coming off in big clouds and floating in the air. North grimaced at the sight of all the dust and started sneezing, it was a good thing England and Wales didn't see that or he would be made to clean. He was always forced to clean his room, but since it messed with his allergies so much he always found ways out of it.

"He was just saying that North should call his..." Scotland ran through a list of words to use instead of what England was going to say but came up with a blank. How hard was it to find something that he could use for Ireland instead of calling her North's mother?

"Doctor, yea for my allergies. I need really strong allergy tablets when I visit Scotland cause the pollen's really bad there," North said quickly seeing Scotland struggle with an explanation. "See how bad I'm sneezing thanks to that dust? Scotland's worse, I almost died one year... well not died, I don't think I can die that easily but it wasn't fun."

America looked between the two redheads for a moment before nodding in understanding.

"Dude that sucks, anyway I should probably go. The last thing I need is to be caught," he declared and pulled his bag onto his shoulder.

"I'll show you the way out." North said pulling him out of the door after him. Scotland watched them leave and could only hope England would not find his former colony in the house or there would be hell to pay. Shaking his head in disbelief he let his mind drift to the plan America had proposed. A spying operation to find out who England was dating, it didn't sound too bad and with North's spy equipment and how predictable England was it shouldn't be too hard. In fact it should be easy and a good laugh once he gets to tease his brother. Smiling to himself he made his way to the kitchen where he found England sitting at the table digging into his breakfast, an English fry and Wales frying more sausages.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

_Meanwhile in the kitchen_

"Wales I told you I can cook. There isn't anything wrong with my food," England scowled when he walked through the door.

"There is, I don't even know how you can eat it. But enough of that, we need to talk about how you're going to tell Scotland and North about your relationship with Ireland," Wales informed him and grabbed some sausages and eggs from the fridge.

"What brings this up?" England asked, raising an eyebrow at the question.

"America is here and he intends to spy on you to catch you on a date or hear you talking to her on the phone. I saw how North and Scotland were acting after I left your study last night too so they will be helping him."

England gaped at him, in complete shock at the revelation. "America is here?"

"Yes and if you want to get caught then I suggest you don't take my warning."

"I'll handle this on my own thank you very much, but I can handle this on my own." England sniffed and sat down at the table.

"No you can't, now you really need a plan or else North and Scotland are going to kill you. Ireland is visiting on Friday isn't she?" England nodded in confirmation. "Ok, it's Wednesday now so we need to find something to throw them off the scent by then. I can distract Scotland for most of the weekend, North and America will be much more difficult. I might need outside help for that."

England could only glare at his older brother who had busied himself with making a mountain of food within the time they were talking.

"Now how would you suggest we throw them off the scent?"

"Decoys, you need to ask a few nations out for lunch, dinner etc and take a few humans out too. Simply put, don't go out to eat without taking a woman with you. I'm almost a hundred percent sure they will follow you everywhere and I might have helped North create a few magical spying gadgets a while back, so your best bet is to throw them off."

"Fine," England scoffed, "but why in the bloody hell did you help him make spy gadgets?"

"Because he wants to be an amazing spy just like his dad," Wales told him, his eyes softening at the memory of how embarrassed North was when he asked for the equipment and when he explained why he wanted it.

"I see, well then I need to figure out whom to take out to lunch today." England trailed off, his annoyance fading a little at the thought of North wanting to be like him.

"I saw how some of the women at your office act around you, ask one of them. I doubt they'll say no."

"Very well then."

As soon as he stopped talking Scotland appeared at the door, a mischievous grin set on his face.

* * *

Until next time children!


	9. The one with the revelation

Honestly I don't even know how this happened :O I had absolutely no intentions of writing this part in the way I did but once I started I couldn't stop. I had intended the whole thing to be really funny and an accident that would involve Sealand being introduced and finding out some secrets but nope, that didn't happen! It gets pretty angsty near the end but all in the name of keeping it interesting and plot and character development, right?

Thank you **thebewilderedhorse, ThatScienceChick **and **IrishMaid** for your reviews ^^

**thebewilderedhorse: **Scotland didn't almost kill America cause he was too tired and used to America :P That and he doesn't mind the nation too much, just find him annoying the odd time

**ThatScienceChick:** That makes me so happy :D So glad I could get Wales so right. Hope he stays up to that rep now... .

**IrishMaid:** Heehee glad you like it :D Fluffiness in the next chapter!

Also BIG North moment in this, using material from the Troubles to kinda push this along as a character trait... so I hope it works :/ Nothing too bad... just amm one pretty tragic event is used as a motivator or push for one thing that happens.

* * *

Wales grinned to himself as the events of that week started unfurling in front of him. He had the privilege of watching everything happen from both sides. He allowed Scotland, North and America to believe he had no clue who England was dating. He almost burst into laughter everytime they came back after another failure. Each and every time he had to force back his sniggers and feign sympathy, when asked to join he refused saying that it wasn't any of his business. Sure he was asked why the sudden lack of interest in England's life but he played it off by saying he was too concerned with his rugby. England on the other hand could not have been happier to have Wales's help. He stuck to the plan Wales set out religiously. Everyday he would find a new co-worker to take to lunch and in the evenings he even found a few nations willing to help him.

It was Friday when things finally came to a head. Ireland was due to arrive that night and Scotland and North were to leave shortly before. As a last ditch attempt they dragged Wales along with them when England who had taken the day off to help North pack went for lunch with another nation. They stealthily tracked him to a hotel. America was once again getting ahead of himself. He was almost squealing in excitement when England walked into the large, upscale hotel. After a few minutes England and a woman left, she had a scarf over her head and wore sunglasses making it very difficult to figure out who she was. They followed them down the street a bit but lost them as soon as they got in a taxi. Somehow he convinced them to give up and go to get food and finish their packing.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

England was amazed that they had managed to lose his stalkers as easily as he did. If he was honest it was tiring stringing them along, he would much rather have told them but that wasn't an option. The fact he and Ireland had started dating would remain a secret until they were both sure everyone would be able to handle it. When exactly that would be he had no clue, but he couldn't give up, not yet. He glanced sideways at the female nation sitting beside him, her long dark brown hair tumbling down her shoulders from under her scarf. He had managed to convince her to wear a scarf and sunglasses until they were sure they weren't being followed anymore. Arriving at their destination England sighed in relief, it was the last time he had to put up a charade for the week. He quickly paid the taxi driver and got out running to the other side to let the other nation out.

"Thanks so much for helping Seychelles, America and my brothers have been spying on me since the meeting," England said as they made their way into the cafe.

"No problem, but you have to keep your end in the bargain," she teased in return and quickly took a seat at a table beside the cafes French window.

"Of course. Hopefully seeing us leave together might get him to back off."

"One question, how will this get rid of him? Would it not get more questions?"

"Possibly, but there is much more to this plan than just us going to lunch."

"Is there now? Do explain."

"As you know America has been spying on me since the world meeting, well Wales and I devised a plan to confuse America and with us going to lunch would be the final straw." He smirked at the thought of his plan, he knew it was working because America was now calling him a few hours after every lunch or dinner he had to ask who he was with.

"Judging by that smirk; it's working. So may I ask who else you wrangled into this plan of yours? "

"Aside from you? Portugal, Belgium and a few humans I know. I tried to find different women to have lunch or dinner with every day."

"That must have been tiring for grumpy old England, so what did you bribe Portugal and Belgium with? Would that not cause a lot of problems with the humans? They do get jealous pretty quickly."

"Compromising photos of Spain, it also helped that we just so happened to have meetings this week. Not to worry about that, I asked them to lunch for the purpose of discussing business. It was strictly professional. Although if I do admit I was slightly shocked they were so eager to have lunch." England blushed a little at the thought, forcing himself back to normal he focused on his objective. He now had seven hours to get rid of America, Scotland was taking North with him within that time so that was two less things to worry about.

"Oooh someone's popular, and tell me about these pictures." Seychelles leant across the table eager to find out what kind of pictures would embarrass Spain.

"One the workers in my office went to Madrid on a holiday and she took them. She thought they were funny so she showed me them when we had lunch the other day. In fairness to her they were," he was abruptly cut off by Seychelles loud tapping on the table.

"Any day you want to get to the main part would be great," she said impatiently.

"Fine," he scoffed in return, "the pictures showed Spain losing his balance whilst carrying a box of tomatoes. He trips then sends the tomatoes flying into the air and lands on them. The best picture out of the lot had to be Spain on his knees covered in tomato and almost in tears." England chuckles to himself at the memory of the pictures.

"I want to see those pictures!" Seychelles exclaimed, her eyes wide and an evil grin on her face.

"I could arrange that, but you do know if I give you those pictures the rest of our agreement is void." This caused Seychelles to pause got a second to consider her options.

"Would I be right to guess you and this mystery girl are going public soon?" she asked after a brief pause.

"I don't know... it would make things much easier but we need to make sure North is ok with it first," England replied hesitantly and shifted his gaze to the table between them.

"What would North have to do with any of that?" Curiosity flashed across Seychelles eyes.

"Actually quite a bit, along with Scotland they are the two who are the closest to this whole thing," England blurted out, stopping and staring at Seychelles with wide eyes, "Please don't tell anyone that!"

"Who would be that close? Wait you don't mean," Seychelles clapped her hand to her mouth and burst into a fit of giggles. England could only glare at her and try to shush her. "You're dating Ireland?" she hissed between her giggles.

England remained silent and felt a blush creep up his cheeks, there was little else he could do and Seychelles was now almost falling off her chair.

"I-I knew it had to be someone... haha... good when France was excited," she laughed.

"Well I would much rather you kept quiet there are people around," England hissed and glanced around the cafe, they were getting a few strange looks but were mostly ignored.

"Of course," she answered and wiped away a tear, "Actually now that I think about it Scotland is going to kill you!"

"I am very much aware of that, but hopefully he won't..." England didn't sound confident, Scotland and North were his biggest worries. He could handle the rest of the world knowing but he genuinely feared how those two would react. It could go very badly or ok, there was no way things could go well.

"Anyway how about we get something to eat? I'm starving!" Seychelles broke him out of his thoughts and motioned for a waiter to come over.

"Agreed," England nodded and picked up the menu. Things went better than he expected. He was fully prepared for question upon question but was thankful they didn't come, at least for now anyway.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

_Meanwhile back with America and the rest_

"Dude what a waste of time!" America exclaimed as he dug into a burger. They had decided to eat at the nearest McDonald's after America almost threw a tantrum about how bad British food was.

"Yer telling me," North agreed. The last few days with America around were fun. There was never a dull moment and he couldn't help but grin even if he was disappointed that they never found out who England was dating.

"Yea, ok how about we try tomorrow? Or wait till he gets back to the house?" America asked and slurped down some of his milkshake.

Scotland grimaced and sat further back from him. "Naw lad, can't do that. I'm taking North back home with me tonight, or did ye forget?"

"Awww seriously? Dude that sucks and we were so close to figuring out who she is," America whined.

"Now what makes ye think that?" Scotland asked and raised an eyebrow at the American.

"Cause dude, he looked so annoyed before but this time he was kinda relaxed, and well maybe that last girl was his actual girlfriend," America explained and scoffed down another burger. North forced himself to look anywhere but at the blonde who he had been forced to sit beside, the guy was fun but his eating habits were disgusting.

"I doubt that," Wales answered nonchalantly and sipped his drink, "I think that I've had enough of this. I'm going back to the house." With that he stood up and left, leaving America to try and convince the other Brits to keep up the hunt. Despite all his reasons and desperate pleas both remained resolute, they were leaving for Glasgow and nothing America could do could stop them. Just as he was about to pull out the big guns that would make Scotland and North stay and help him his phone rang. Grumbling he looked at the caller I.D and paled. It was his boss. He quickly put it back in his pocket and ignored it. However the loud "Fuck Yea America!" ringtone still blared causing everyone to glare at the tall blonde. Eventually Scotland launched himself forward and after a quick tussle grabbed the phone and answered it without looking at the I.D.

"Hello," a man said down the line.

"Hi, who is this?" Scotland asked and pushed America back with his free hand.

"I should be asking the same thing about you, now can you hand me over to America," the man asked.

"Why should I?"

"Dude seriously let me talk!" America hissed at the redhead.

"Because he hasn't returned from the meetings a few days ago and we need him back now," the man on the other side of the line was getting annoyed now.

"Aye sure here he is, next time make sure he goes home and doesn't get a plane to London instead," Scotland told him and chuckled to himself as he heard the other man swear about America's frivolousness.

"Hi, umm sorry about not coming home, I got distracted," America quickly apologised and walked away from were Scotland and North were sitting. After ten more minutes of grovelling and promising to return immediately he walked back to the table and slumped onto his seat.

"I need to go home, that was my boss and he's pretty mad at me," he mumbled then stood up to put on his jacket. North and Scotland exchanged knowing looks before following suit. They walked down the street a little before America stopped.

"I guess this is where we part ways; it was awesome hanging out again Scotland and great getting to know you North. Dude you're one cool guy!" he said, shuffling on his feet a little.

"Yer not bad yerself, a wee bit crazy but grand all the same," North grinned and pulled America's hand into a handshake. The next thing he knew he was being pulled into the tightest bear hug he had ever experienced. Gasping for air he pushed himself off the American and stumbled backwards to a safe distance.

"Lad take care," Scotland clapped him on the shoulder and was pulled into a hug as well, although unlike North he was expecting it and it ended up being a contest on who could squeeze the tightest. They remained in the hug for five minutes before they both released and were gasping for air, laughing at the way the others face had turned red.

"Ok well bye, I'll be back sometime soon to continue this investigation. The hero always wins!" With that he ran down another street towards his hotel.

Watching him go North turned to Scotland, a knowing glint in his eye. "You called America's boss didn't ye?"

"Aye I might have, look it's great having the lad around but there's only so much I can take. That and after all the effort England went through to avoid being caught, it makes me think he's serious about this lass," Scotland sighed and started walking towards England's house. "But with America out of the way now we can actually use some magic and it will make it a lot easier." He shot North a grin.

"Oh aye, I keep forgetting about magic... but mines isn't really good. I don't think I can help much," North said dejected.

"Ah lad, we'll get Ireland to come over and help ye. Ye just need to relax and then things will work better," Scotland reassured his nephew who brightened at the thought of seeing Ireland.

"It's been a while since I saw her last, yea lets do that!" He chirped and started marching ahead.

Back at the house they quickly packed and took their things out to Scotland's car. North remained silent the entire time, seemingly distracted by something and on the verge of tears. Scotland brushed it off as exhaustion. They had spent the last few days tracking England mercilessly and that would wear anyone out. As they were putting the last bag into the boot England arrived back and stopped to watch them.

"Ye come to see us off?" Scotland asked.

"Of course and any idea where Wales is?" England answered quickly.

"Last I saw he was in the living room, he said something about needing to chat to ye," North explained and hauled the last corner of the bag into the boot and standing back to let Scotland close it. They stood back for a while admiring their handiwork. Scotland drove an old Rover that just about managed to get him from A to B. It was a miracle they even got the bags in without something falling off.

"Scotland I have no idea why you don't just get a new car," England sighed and shook his head. The sight of the redhead grinning like an idiot over an old banger was beyond him. With all the money Scotland had just sitting around he could get a really good car, it wasn't like he liked spending money on himself. He just seemed to like saving it for a rainy day or a good drinking session.

"Because lad, this is my car and I love it," Scotland answered honestly and patted the top of the car affectionately.

England blanched at the display in front of him and was pleased to see North do the same.

"Well, dad I guess I'll help ye find Wales," North offered and retreated from the Scot who was completely enamoured with his car.

"Ah yes that would be splendid," England muttered in agreement and followed the teen nation inside. England noticed how tense North seemed to get when it was just them but was soon distracted once they found Wales who was in the living room lighting a fire with some of England's poetry books.

"What the bloody hell are you doing?" England yelled at him.

"Oh, my dragon got cold and you forgot about what you promised," he answered innocently, never taking his attention away from the fire.

"Your dragon got cold... and what promise? You never said anything about a promise." He spluttered and rushed forward to grab the book Wales held in his hand and was about to throw in the fire.

"Well not so much promise as deal," Wales whispered in his ear once he got close enough. England went pale when he suddenly realised what Wales meant.

"Ah right that... North would you mind?" he glanced up at North who was looking between them, an unreadable expression on his face. Nodding North left the room, looking back quickly to see England's shocked reaction to something Wales said.

"Why do you need to take some of your sheep when you visit?" England hissed at Wales.

"Because they are my friends and I want them close, the same way you keep mint bunny close," Wales told him as if they were discussing something as dull as the weather.

"Mint bunny is different, she can actually talk back to me. Your sheep are just mindless animals!"

"They talk back to me, some even have magic so I would say they are exactly like mint bunny."

England gawked at him, completely lost for words.

"Now if you don't mind I'm going to get my stuff packed to go home." He pushed past England and stopped at the door. "I'll be back in a few weeks and I'm bringing Anna Dorothy with me."

England glared after him, there was no way he was bringing a sheep into his house. Especially not one called Anna Dorothy, why the bloody hell would he give a sheep of all animals' two human names? He would much rather Scotland and North found out than let that happen. Suddenly North popped his head through the door.

"Dad, we're leaving now," he told him and moved further into the room, keeping a safe distance after noting that England was more than a little angry.

"Ah right, well enjoy yourself," England said, snapping out of his rage induced trance and smiling softly at the teen nation.

"Am da, can I ask something?" North looked up at him, his eyes huge.

"Yes go on." England smiled at the name North used for him, it was only in times when they were alone he called him da.

"Why are ye keeping your girlfriend secret?"

England could have sworn he felt his heart stop at the question. He remained frozen in place as he tried to formulate an answer. Before he could find the right words North spoke again.

"But ye know what ye don't have to tell me. I guess I'm only yer son and what right do I have to say? Look if ye really like her then congrats, and I mean that da; I really do." What North said was like a punch to England's gut, he felt out of breath and unsteady on his feet. They held eye contact for a moment until England finally found the right words.

"Look, it's not that I don't want to tell you. I really do but it's complicated and people could get hurt... I just want to keep everyone happy..." his voice trailed off. He looked up at North again who was staring at the ground, completely absorbed in the carpet.

"Wales knows doesn't he?"

"Yes, he heard us talking on the phone," England answered after a slight pause.

"And I know her?" North asked; England could see tears forming in his eyes now. North knew.

"Yes."

"Why?" he croaked and stared at his dad, tears streaming down his face.

"Because I..." England couldn't answer; he thought he knew what to say but the words caught in his throat.

"How could ye do this? After everything that happened? How could ye..." he broke down in tears, the confirmation of his worst fears hitting him hard. Of all people his dad could date, he had to pick the worst one. He never wanted to see his parents together, he had heard stories about what had happened in the past and didn't want her to suffer at his hands again. Sure they could at least talk to each other now, but that was only because of him, right? His mind raced with thoughts of how this could go wrong and how much damage it could do. This relationship could rip his family apart and it will crush his uncle. He howled at the thought of Scotland getting hurt like that. Scotland never told anyone how he felt about Ireland but it was obvious, North could tell just by looking at him. He remembered all the times Scotland snuck him over to Ireland so they could have a day out. A lot of the times Scotland was mistaken as his dad and it secretly thrilled North. He loved England but there were times he wished Scotland was his real dad... but that was impossible.

"North please calm down," England begged and bent down to comfort his son. "Please just stop crying." He felt tears sting his own eyes and his vision blurred a bit.

North continued to cry, each howl getting louder and louder. England had expected North to take the news badly, but he never expected the boy to cry. He had fully anticipated North to start an argument, this was the complete opposite of what he had prepared for.

A knock on the door pulled England's attention away for a moment, looking up he made eye contact with Scotland who stood at the door looking very worried. Pulling himself up he walked over to the door and closed it, locking it behind him. He could deal with Scotland later, now he had to find a way to calm North down.

"England?" a high pitched voice came from the air beside him. Glancing to his left he saw mint bunny flying beside him.

"Yes," England answered and walked back towards North.

"What happened?" she asked hesitantly and fluttered down to try and comfort the crying boy who was gasping for air between his sobs.

"He found out," England said simply and sat North up to help him breathe. North was prone to panic attacks and England needed him to calm down.

"This is bad England, I haven't seen him this bad since he got that scar on his nose," mint bunny worried.

"I know," he pulled North onto the couch and lay him down, forcing the teen to look him in the eyes. North screwed his eyes shut and tangled his hands in his hair, turning away from England and mint bunny.

"North please, it will be ok. Please," mint bunny begged and tried nudging his shoulder.

The world had gone blank to North, the only thing that existed was the pain building inside his head and heart. He hadn't felt this ripped apart since he got that scar, since Omagh. Slowly the pain started to ebb and North became aware of darkness embracing him. Within seconds he lost consciousness and with it the pain disappeared.

England sighed as North finally succumbed to Wales's sleeping charm. No matter how hard he tried he couldn't break North out of his panic attack and he had no choice but to ask for Wales's help. Scotland waited outside the room, he was never good at dealing with North's panic attacks and this one was bad. He was itching to know what had happened but knew England wouldn't tell him until he felt North could handle him knowing. He paced up and down the hall until the howling and crying stopped. Breathing a sigh of relief he knocked on the door and pushed it open. England and Wales were talking quietly but nodded at him when he walked in.

"Scotland, I think it's best if you and Wales left for a while. I need to sort this out with North and it might not be in his best interests if there are others around," England explained softly. His eyes never leaving North's sleeping form.

Scotland nodded numbly and left the room. Slowly he made his way back out to his car and took out North's bags. He was looking forward to their trip, but they could always try again in the future. As he left the bags back in North's room Wales approached him with a packed suitcase.

"Mind taking me on that trip?" he asked with a light smile.

"Sure, but ye have to tell me what happened. Ye seem to know more than me," Scotland growled. He was adult enough to know he was annoyed that something was being kept from him, but he wasn't adult enough to remain as calm as he should.

"Later, for now lets get out of here," Wales's muttered and went out to Scotland's car, promptly putting his suitcase in the boot and jumping in the passenger side.

Scotland followed him and within an hour they were in the country heading towards Glasgow.

Meanwhile England had reached for his phone and was calling the only other person who might help North.

"That romantic weekend I promised has been ruined, but I need you to come over anyway," he said down the phone, his voice calm despite the panic he felt. After Scotland and Wales left he couldn't stop shaking. Seeing North get that bad shook him to his very core and it ripped him apart knowing he was the reason.

"Why what happened?" Ireland asked.

"North knows." The other line went dead and England could only hope Ireland would be quick. He didn't want to be alone when North woke up. Putting the phone down England finally allowed himself to break down.

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So if you didn't guess the scar on his nose represents Omagh... it's a tragic story and very important in NI history so if you don't know google it. I don't like talking in too much detail about it or any NI tragedy for that matter :/


	10. The one with the confrontation

This took longer than I wanted it to -.- Gah college really hates me right now, so many assignments

Also so glad people liked the last chapter. I was so worried about it ^^'

So um yea thanks for reading so far. I get my Halloween break next week so I should be updating this much quicker :D

Special thanks to **IrishMaid**, **ThatScienceChick, ****thebewilderedhorse** and **thebackofthebooklies**. You guys reviewing make my day :D

**IrishMaid: **Hehe yep I write Hello America as well ^^ I really do intend to get back to it asap and hopefully get it finished over Halloween... maybe, I know exactly where it's going and how it's getting there... I just can't write most of it. I kinda lost inspiration with it but I've been able to write some parts of the next chapter recently so that's a good sign :D

All my stories apart from The New Neighbour are within the same timeline. So this would be in the present and Hello America in the past etc

**ThatScienceChick: **Ahhh your review made me so happy I nearly squealed... and I was in a library XD I got stares but I didn't care.

**thebewilderedhorse **and **thebackofthebooklies** there should be fluffiness in the next chapter, I need to get this thing happier again before Scotland finds out. Then things are going to hell and back.

**thebewilderedhorse **I was insanely relieved when I read your review, that was the one thing I was very worried about. Tragedies should be respectfully handled and I didn't want to do anything bad, normally I try and leave big things that still have a huge impact on people out of anything I do but that was one I couldn't ignore :/

**thebackofthebooklies **Still so happy people like Wales :D It took me forever to figure out his personality

Next chapter I promise will fluffy and I need to introduce Sealand to this. I think his character will play off really well with the family bonding thing I have planned

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England was pacing back and forth when he finally heard the doorbell ring. Glancing back at North's sleeping form he raced to the front door and let Ireland in. Ireland pushed past him only stopping to look at him for directions. Understanding he pointed towards his study and quickly followed the redhead nation as she made her way through the house. Ireland froze at the door unable to push herself to walk in and see her son.

"Is he asleep?" Ireland whispered to England.

"Yes, but he could wake up any moment. What took you so long? I sent the jet for you hours ago!" England asked panic rising from the pit of his stomach.

"France, that bastard wouldn't leave me alone." Ireland answered quickly and eased open the door to the study.

"What did that frog want?"

"To find out about ya and to bribe me with a puppy and chocolate. Just going to say it's a good thing Russia landed when he did otherwise I wouldn't have gotten away." she slowly walked up to the couch North lay on and looked down on his sleeping form, sighing slightly at the sight. England gaped at her in response, he knew Ireland considered Russia a friend but there was something downright creepy about the guy! How Ireland couldn't see it was beyond him.

"And then to make matters even worse my boss heard I coming here and then he showed up at the door! That man should learn when to back off," she continued completely ignoring England. "On that topic I might have snapped and he along with Russia might know that we're dating and North is our son..."

"Wait, what?" England hissed at her and grabbed her wrist then dragged her out of the room afraid their conversation might wake North up.

"I did say Russia showed up didn't I?" she grunted and rubbed her wrist. England looked at her with a puzzled look set on his face. This time Ireland did notice his reaction. Sighing she continued to explain what happened. "Look, France showed up on Wednesday and wouldn't leave, he brought a puppy with him and it got along so well with the rest I couldn't pull them apart. To make it worse when I tried to get him to leave he have me these amazing chocolates I have been trying to get for ages but they were always sold out..." she looked down at her feet and tried to avoid the unamused look England was sending her.

"You couldn't refuse chocolates and a puppy? How many dogs do you have now?" England asked, feeling tension build between his eyebrows as they furrowed together.

"Ummm... four? But I got some of them from other people and how could I turn away such adorable faces?" Ireland pleaded and gave England her best puppy dog eyes. "Ya know how much I love dogs, and well it seems everyone knows I can't turn a dog away."

"Fine," England answered and massaged the area between his eyebrows in an attempt to get rid of the growing headache. "Now how does Russia fit into this?"

"He just came over for a visit a few minutes before you called. He heard us talking but he promised to keep it a secret if I let him scare France. Then, well you can imagine what happened when my boss landed at the door when I was putting my suitcase in the taxi." Not waiting for England to answer she quickly drew another breath and started rushing off the rest of her story. "He threw a tantrum claiming it was very important I stayed in the country to help with work and stuff. then I got mad when he wouldn't let me explain why I had to come here. When I finally got a chance to explain why I was leaving he told me that it wasn't my responsibility to care for North so I snapped and screamed at him. I might have said North was our son and if he stopped me he would have had to deal with you and the rest of the U.K as well..." she trailed off and hesitantly looked at England. His face white with shock. "And when he asked why I would be putting up with ya even if it was for North's sake I could have told him that we were... um you know..."

England sighed and remained in place for a while, his sight set firmly on Ireland as he quietly judged the situation.

"So, Russia knows, your boss knows. They didn't know North was our son before but they do now. Tell me things went better after that," he groaned in frustration.

"My boss went really quiet and just let me go. Russia started cheering and said he knew all along, so it could have gone worse," Ireland supplied with a hopeful smile. England nodded, once again silence falling between them.

"Then I suppose it could have gone worse, the main part is you're here and now we can deal with North. By the way who is taking care of your dogs?"

"The Leprechauns, they normally look after them when I leave. I just hope that Squirrel doesn't start a fight with any of them, especially not Affric."

"Affric?"

"The Cairn terrier Scotland gave me two years ago as a birthday present, I love her but she's a wee bit feisty. So anyway what about North? What exactly happened?" As soon as she asked the question a sudden yelp came form the study. Without a second thought Ireland raced into the room to North's side followed closely by England.

North sat bolt upright, his forehead shining with sweat and his eyes wide in fear as he looked around the room.

"Ma," he whimpered taking in Ireland rushing to him, "Please tell me this isn't real." Tears started falling down his cheeks again but Ireland quickly brushed them away and pulled the teen into a hug.

"Shh wee dote, calm down it's alright," she soothed and rubbed her hand on his back in circular motions like she did when he had a nightmare when he was a child. England could only stand back and watch the scene unfurl in front of him, he decided it was best to let Ireland explain everything considering North thought he was the villain in his and Ireland's relationship.

"Why are you here?" North croaked after a few more sobs.

"Do ya really need to ask that? I'm here for my wee baby," Ireland smiled gently at the redhead who had pulled away to look at her.

North shook his head and threw himself back into a hug, burying his face in her shoulder. "No you're not, you're here for him. I heard it!" He bawled.

Ireland shot England an angry glance demanding to know what happened.

"North when did you hear this?" England asked calmly and stepped closer to them.

"You said it today at lunch with Seychelles!" England stared at him, eyes once again wide in shock.

"What?" he asked his voice catching in his chest. Suddenly North pulled away from Ireland and reached for a skin coloured cord behind his ear and threw it to the ground. England gasped at the object and Ireland looked blankly between them, completely confused at what the object was.

"Yea I used one of my listening devices on ye! I got so fucking tired of waiting for ye to be a good "dad" that I had to spy on ye!" he exclaimed and backed away from his parents. "But ye know what? I don't give a fuck anymore! Ye can ruin her life again if ye want! Yea I heard about everything and I thought that yez knew better, but apparently yez are both stupid fu.." A loud slap cut him off and Ireland stood in front of him, her eyes covered by her copper fringe. North and England stood frozen staring at her in shock.

"Don't you ever say any of that again!" she told North in a firm voice never lifting her gaze from the ground. "Now go to bed and we will discuss this in the morning." North nodded in compliance and silently left the room, his head hung low as more tears fell. "So are ya gonna take my stuff up to your room or not?" she said turning to England.

"My room?" he asked cautiously.

"Yea, if we're gonna get North to see sense we might need to put up a united front. If I sleep in the spare room then he might think he can break us apart." she explained and finally lifted her gaze from the floor. England could see tears shining in her eyes.

"Very well then," he left the room to lift her bags that she had left beside the front door and took them to his room. Returning back to the study he found it abandoned, he heard noises and soft swears coming from the kitchen and quickly made his way into the cavernous room. He grinned at the sight in front of him. Ireland stood on a stool trying to reach some flour whilst precariously balancing eggs, potatoes and milk in one arm. Every attempt she made to reach the flour almost sent her tumbling to the ground.

"Come on ya wee fecker," she muttered under her breath and gave one last ditch attempt at grabbing the flour but only succeeded in sending the potatoes soaring through the air. Yelping she tried grabbing them but huffed in annoyance as they all hit the ground. Unable to hold himself back England burst into laughter. Spinning around on the chair Ireland sent him a death glare, her face red in annoyance.

"Sorry, it was just too funny," he giggled and tried to pull himself together. He had to be a gentleman and gentlemen don't laugh at their girlfriends failures, regardless of how funny. "So what are you doing?"

"Trying to make potato bread," she huffed in response and ignored England's grin that was now set on his face. England moved closer and wrapped his arms around her waist lifting her off the stool and placing her on the floor.

"Here let me get that and you sort out the rest," he suggested and took the flour down with ease. Ireland huffed at his side and mumbled something about "tall wizards" and "not being fair". England could only chuckle at her sudden childishness. "Come on, tell me what to do," he said and took her hand in his.

"Hold on a minute there wee boy! I'm not letting ya near this." she exclaimed and pulled her hand back.

"Why not?"

"Cause I want to eat it and I don't want North to get stomach cramps."

"My cooking isn't that bad!"

"Yea it is, now go on get out of here and check and see if North is in his room. Ya know how bad he is at wandering off." she shooed him out of the kitchen and set about gathering the potatoes and starting on the food.

Smiling to himself England left and headed towards North's room. Prying the door open he saw North lying on his bed reading a book. North shot him a death glare as soon as he poked his head around the door and without a second of hesitation threw the book at him. Ducking away England grimaced at the thought of talking to him the next morning. That was not going to be a pleasant experience. He closed the door again and made his way back down to the kitchen to where Ireland now had a table stacked high with potato bread, which she claimed was for tomorrow morning and England wasn't allowed to have any until then, much to his disappointment.

They spent the next few hours talking and catching up on the week. Ireland wasn't surprised to find out Wales knew when she was told he had overheard their conversation. What did surprise her though was America's determination in finding out who England was dating. Before they knew it it was very late and they retreated to bed, hoping that North wouldn't try anything stupid and that he will listen when they spoke to him. They could always hope he would be happy for them right?

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Didn't have a lot of time to edit so see anything let me know ^^  
Thanks for reading through it if there are a lot of mistakes ^^'


	11. The one with the movie

Moving this on redonculously quickly now cause I need some things to happen soon, so yep lots of fun in this and a little family bonding time ^^

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The next morning kicked off with a bang. They were very quickly woken when the house suddenly erupted in a menagerie of loud rock music, very painful and high pitch clangs and whistles from the kitchen and an array of other noises England couldn't place without a few more minutes to process everything. One thing was for sure though; North was up and far from happy.

Groaning England rolled over to his side and pulled his alarm clock onto the pillow, squinting he let out another groan at the time. Six a.m. that meant he had only five hours of sleep after he and Ireland stayed up late talking. Rolling onto his back he rest his forearm on his head and stared at the ceiling. He could hear North rattling around in the kitchen, loudly slamming cupboards shut and Go knows what else. Sighing he looked to his other side and smiled. Ireland lay fast asleep, her hair tousled over the pillow and covered most of her face. He reached over and pulled Ireland closer, nuzzling into the nape of her neck. Ireland moved slightly under her touch but remained fast asleep.

"We need to get up, love," he mumbled into her skin. Ireland's eyes fluttered open, it took her a minute to process where she was and England had woken her. Eventually she yawned and turned around to face England, she laughed lightly at the sight in front of her. England's hair was wilder than she had ever seen and his eyebrows were no different. Instead of answering England she snuggled in closer and wrapped her arms around his neck, tucking her head under his.

"Ireland, we need to get up," England chuckled and kissed the top of her head.

"No," Ireland replied in a low moan.

"North isn't in a good mood and I doubt we want to keep him waiting," England explained quietly.

"But I want to sleep," Ireland whined and moved in tighter to England, "and if ya let me stay in bed, there might be something in it for you."

England audibly gulped and stared off into space considering his options. North had gone quiet downstairs so there was a chance he went out, then again England didn't hear the front or back door open. England was too busy contemplating that he didn't hear footsteps coming up the stairs. Suddenly loud rapping on the door broke him and Ireland out of their sleepy trances.

"Hey, the two of yez better get up now or I'll tell the entire fecking world!" North shouted through the door and then marched back downstairs. Hearing the warning Ireland sat bolt upright and stared at the door.

"Wait North is up?" she asked in complete shock.

England sighed and nodded, smirking at the sleepy nation. "I already told you but now we really need to get up."

"Does he have to be that loud?" Ireland asked once the noises from downstairs finally registered in her brain.

"He's your son, so yes he does." England stood up from the bed and put on a dressing gown before turning towards the door, "you better hurry up or I won't make you any tea."

"I'm up," Ireland declared then jumped from the bed and rushed to grab her own dressing gown. Throwing it on and pulling on a pair of slippers; she followed England out the door and down the stairs.

They found North sitting at the kitchen table, the potato bread Ireland made the previous night stacked high on a plate in front of him. He glared at them as they walked in but otherwise started devouring the food. England instantly made his way to the kettle and started preparing tea only to find the kettle boiled and two cups already prepared for the boiling water. He glanced back at North who was now completely enthralled with his food and ignored the attention. Quickly he poured the water into the cups and made the tea, handing one to Ireland and taking the other for himself.

"So, about last night..." Ireland started and moved to take a seat at the table. North shot daggers at England then turned his attention to Ireland, his look softening slightly.

"Aye, about the yez being eejits; go on and explain that farce," North spat and shifted to move away a bit.

"It is not a farce North and it would serve you well to listen to us, so shut your mouth right now," England warned.

North huffed and folded his arms, staring resolutely at the table in front of him.

"Look North, if ya like it or not this is happening," Ireland told him. "But... I will let ya explain why ya don't like the thought of us being together." England and North stared at her, England with a look of sheer horror and North one of glee and determination.

"What if my reasons are awesome and I prove how stupid yez are being? Will yez stop all this crap?" North asked.

"We'll think about it," Ireland answered stiffly. England was watching her warily.

"Ok," North stood up and prepared himself for what appeared to be a very long, very angry speech.

"To start, what in God's name makes ye think he is good for ye? I know I wasn't alive for any of it, but didn't he starve ye twice, caused a fucking massacre and better still sent ye to Australia when ye fought back?" England had to force himself to stay calm and to simply remain in the room, yes he had done all that but he regrets it now. Ireland just stared at North, her gaze never faltering and never letting any emotion seep through.

"Oh and lets not forget that yez have been doing grand these last few years. As far as I can tell whatever the hell 'this' is, it's just another complication!" North continued on his rant, he had used his main reasons by now but there was still plenty more were they came from. "Before I forget, isn't it his fault that I barely fucking knew ye when I was growing up and if it wasn't for Scotland and Wales I wouldn't have even met ye? Now the fuck is it fair that I had to listen to both of my parents rip each other apart for as long as I can remember, get used to the thought they will never stop fighting and suddenly accept their together for some stupid reason?" North gasped for breath and sank down in his chair. "I just don't understand why yez had to do all that and now this... especially you dad, ye've no right to even talk to her..."

Once he trailed off Ireland finally looked at England who stood with tears starting in his eyes.

"Right lad, well I can't explain most of it but what I can explain is your dad and I were never fine. The only reason we were even able to talk was thanks to ya being there." Ireland started, she was trying to keep her voice level but could feel it going pitchy on some words. "We were always fighting when you weren't around, it got to a point we weren't allowed in the same meeting room until we both promised to stay quiet. Germany and some of the rest even threatened to revoke our EU memberships... that did not go down well with our bosses. About the past... I can't answer that in a way you'd understand." She stopped and looked at England. Clearing his throat England stood away from the counter and leant on the table.

"Your mother's right, but North... things really were different then. I was an Empire and to put it simply I wasn't the England you know now. I had different people forcing me to do well, less than pleasant things. I think the only time I was able to get away from then was when I was a pirate. I couldn't even completely escape them when I ran off to America when I could. North the things that happened... I never wanted them to and when I sent Ireland to Australia I really was not thinking clearly. I was power hungry and it made me do terrible things I still regret," England pleaded, eventually letting his voice fade.

"So your saying I should forgive ye for being a bastard? And that this is the only way the two of ye will stop fighting. I've never heard as much bullshit in my entire life and you raised me!" North pointed angrily at England then marched out of the kitchen taking his food with him and slammed the door behind him. A few minutes later they heard the sound of loud drumming accompanying the music.

"Teenagers they never want to listen," Ireland said as she let out a puff of air.

"He is right and I can see how he is having a hard time with this..." England admitted and let his head fall on the table between his elbows.

"I know he is," Ireland supplied cheerfully, "Sure I said all of that and more to ya during a lot of our fights. You know I don't lie when I'm angry." She grinned at England who stared back at her dumbfounded.

"Then we really are doomed."

"Lad you're such a pessimist, relax and let me deal with this. I'll have him on our side in no time."

"How do you intend to do that," England scoffed. In his mind this was hopeless, they were never going to get North on their side.

"He took the potato bread didn't he?" Ireland asked, a twinkle in her eye.

"What has that to do with anything?"

"Everything, the lad isn't that different from us. He'll come round." Ireland stood up and walked to the door. "But I think I'll go get a shower and changed for now. We have a lot of things to do today."

England waited a bit before cleaning away the cups and noticing Ireland didn't touch her tea, he was about to call after when the phone rang. Grumbling England made his way out the hall and answered it.

"Hello."

"Yo Iggy, dude guess who's coming over for a horror movie tonight?" England swore silently at the voice.

"America, I'm busy you can visit another time." England told him sternly. There was no way he was running around again and it wouldn't be fair to hide Ireland.

"No can do dude, I'm already on the plane. I told my boss it's for foreign affairs. He totally understands so that means we get to hang out!" America almost shouted down the phone.

"Why in blazes do you need to come over now?" England demanded, fear building. There was no way he could keep his secret now.

"Cause I got a new DVD, dude this movie's not even out in theatres yet. I'm friends with the director and he gave it to me on the condition I give it back by next weekend."

"That is not a good enough reason. America you cannot come over, I'm very busy and I do not have time for movies!"

"Aww dude, come on. We've barely hung out since you got a girlfriend. Is that what we're gonna be like now? Are you always gonna put her before me? Dude don't you know it's bros before hoes?"

"America I know that but for now this is more important. Things are very complicated and I," England pinched the bridge of his nose and felt a tension headache build as he was cut off by the American.

"Did she break up with you?" America asked in a panicked tone.

"Why would she break up with me?"

"Dude lets face it, you probably gave her a reason." America said his voice dripping with mock pity.

"I bloody did not!"

"Sorry Iggy gotta go now, planes about to leave. See you in a few hours. Don't worry I'll get a taxi to your place. You still have a spare room, right? Anyway, bye!" With that America hung up, leaving England staring at the phone, his hand entwined in his hair. What the hell was he going to do now? The only good thing was he had a few hours to plan something. Turning he raced up the stairs to find Ireland.

A few hours later a plan was formed and they were now just waiting for the American to arrive when a knock at the front door broke them out of a conversation they were having in the sitting room. North had remained in his room playing drums the entire time. Bracing himself England got up and went to answer the door while Ireland hid in the kitchen. Pulling the door England was met with a kick to the shin and a very angry shout.

"Jerk England! Why did you not tell me about your new girlfriend?" England blinked and looked down at Sealand pushing past him into the house.

"What in the bloody hell are you doing here?" England demanded.

"I came to see you! Now tell me who she is so I can tell her how much of a jerk you are!" Sealand proclaimed and started searching the hall. Suddenly the drumming stopped and England looked up to see North standing on the top of the stairs, his face pale.

"No way, there is no way you're making me put up with the brat as well as everything else," North said and ran down the stairs and out the door, grabbing his jacket off the railing as he went.

"Bye North!" Sealand called after him, "what did he mean by that?" He turned to England who stood shocked at the scene that unfurled and the memory America was due to arrive any minute now.

"He meant you shouldn't be here and I have a lot to deal with," England growled. "Now tell me your real reason for being here."

"I told you, I want to meet your girlfriend," Sealand whined, "and Sweden might have put me in a box again but I am not running away!"

England pinched the bridge of his nose again, this day was just getting better and better. Could this day get any worse?

"Dude, I just saw North run off. Is he ok?" came America's very loud, very cheerful voice from the door.

No, England thought, this day could really get much much worse.

Meanwhile Ireland was running down the street after North. She had watched everything happen from her hidden spot in the kitchen and fled out the back door as soon as North left. She had narrowly avoided America but was soon catching up with North. Turning she found herself in a park and saw his back running away from her and into a crowd. Breaking through the crowd she found him sitting on a bench at the edge of a pond staring at the ducks.

"Why did ya stop?" she asked breathlessly and took a seat beside him.

"There's no point running, is there?" he asked. Ireland could see tears trickle down his cheeks and how puffy his face was. She guessed he was crying all morning.

"I suppose not," she agreed.

"Why?" he asked after a long silence.

"Why what?"

"Why would ye go back to him?"

"I guess cause I have always had feelings for him."

North scoffed at the answer, it was not that simple. "After everything he did?"

"He's changed and if he hadn't, you know I would have him decapitated."

North laughed a little but kept his gaze firmly on the ducks. "If he hurts ye, I'm gonna make him pay. Or I'm moving out."

"Fair enough, so is that all you're worried about? Me getting hurt?"

"Aye, it's just that I heard all the stories and they're scary. Ma I just don't know how ye could forgive him."

"I know they are, this whole thing actually scares the shite out of me too. It's not gonna hold me back though. It just feels right."

"But what if he does something like he did before?"

"Different people lad, ya really haven't figured out this whole nation thing yet, have ya?"

North just looked at her, confusion written across his face.

"Remember when ya were really confused and pretty volatile? Then when we stepped in and helped pull your people together you felt better? That's cause what our people think, we end up thinking. It's why ya still get those split thoughts." Ireland smiled gently as she watched North's face slowly light up in understanding.

"So that's what happened? Dads old people were arseholes and he just had to do what they wanted?"

"That's exactly it. When we were pirates he even admitted that himself."

"Wait you where a pirate?" North asked, his mouth hanging open.

"Aye, the pirate queen... well one of them," Ireland said with a grin.

"There were pirate queens?"

"Of course there were! Who'd ya think kept your dad in line?"

"Spain..."

"He was a good pirate but I was better. Me and the other girls kept the guys in line. They were good times."

"Other girls?"

"Yea the other pirate queens , also Irish."

"Right..." North smiled to himself at the thought of his parents being pirates. It was cool being the son of infamous pirates.

"Good now I got ye to smile how about we go shopping?" Ireland chirped and grabbed North by the hand and pulled him off the bench. She started leading him down a path.

"Shopping? Why?"

"Cause America landed and we need something to eat for the film he brought. Apparently it's not even out in the cinemas yet."

"Do I have to?"

"Yes, and I promise no more secrets. Anything ya want to say from now on say it. I don't want ya to feel like we're forcing ya to do anything."

"Anything?"

"Yes."

"Even the part were you're my mum and England's my dad?" Ireland stopped at the question and considered the outcome.

"I think it's about time that secret was put to bed," she answered after enough consideration. It was something she and England had talked about a lot and it was also something she hated lying about. She was proud of her son.

"Awesome," North muttered to himself and quickened the pace. "If we're gonna get something for the film we better hurry."

Ireland nodded and matched his pace.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

Back at the house England had let America in and was now looking around to find Ireland. Upon finding the back door open England put two and two together and assumed she had gone after North. Smiling he turned to America who was setting up his DVD player to the tv.

"Dude this movies gonna be awesome, but I don't think the little guy is hero enough to watch it," he said as he fiddled with some wires. His tongue clenched between his teeth in concentration.

"I am hero enough to watch it!" Sealand exclaimed and plopped himself down on an armchair.

"Ok dude but if you get scared don't come crying to me," America laughed and stepped away from the tv, content he got the DVD player set up correctly. "Oh dude can you take my bag up to the spare room? I totally need a place to sleep tonight," he turned and said to England.

"Who said I was going to let you stay?" England asked flabbergasted at America's lack of common decency.

"I'm here now and I promise I won't ask you the girl is."

"But I want to know!" Sealand piped in.

England stared at both of them, this was going to be a long day.

It took another hour to calm both of them down and allowing them to stay before America got bored and started the movie. He was annoyed at the lack of snacks, but England assured him North was getting some. An earlier text from Ireland told him everything he needed to know. About ten minutes into the movie the front door opened and they heard North call out that he brought snacks. America almost leapt from the couch when both Ireland and North walked in and looked around the room. Sealand was sitting on an armchair clutching his knees to his chest, and America was doing the same but with England's arm as they both sat on the couch. America paused the film and stared up at Ireland.

"Budge over," she said to England and ignored the American. Obediently England moved over to the middle and let Ireland sit down, he shook his arm free from America and glared at the blonde when he tried to ask a question. "Questions later, film now," Ireland told him and took out a bag of crisps and threw them to America.

North stood back watching them with a disgusted look on his face, he still wasn't happy about it but he had promised to give them a chance. Reluctantly he took the other armchair and told America to unpause the movie and he had a change in plans so he couldn't go to Scotland. America nodded dumbly and pressed play. One eye glued to the Irishwoman.

An hour later America was still watching Ireland like a hawk, the movie was completely forgotten about. Without warning England suddenly put his arm around her and America tensed up. Was Ireland his girlfriend? That was impossible and wrong on so many levels. It was fine when he was a kid but not now. Is that why North keeps giving them weird looks? Shit, he thought this is so not good. Then it happened, Ireland jumped and clung onto England, burying her face in his shoulder. That is not something Ireland would do normally. Oh but it was getting worse they were looking at each other and...

"Hold it right there!" America and North screamed in unison. Sealand blinked and noticed how close England and Ireland were, he was the only one aside from Ireland who had actually watched the movie.

"Why are you two so close?" he asked loudly, still shaken from the last scene.

"Because I got scared," Ireland answered innocently.

"Oh no, you didn't just get scared. You two are together aren't you?" America demanded and pointe his finger at them accusingly.

"What if we are?" England answered coyly and wrapped his arm around Ireland's waist.

"Ew I do not need to see this!" North exclaimed and ran out of the room. Ireland and England almost felt bad for him, almost.

"No dude this is wrong, this is so wrong. You guys can't be together; you rip each other apart all the time!"

"Sorry America, I guess ya gotta deal with it," Ireland told him.

"No this is..." America didn't finish his sentence, instead he followed North out of the room leaving Sealand to stare at the couple in shock.

"I guess you already know he's a jerk then?" he asked nervously.

"Yea, but he's my jerk," Ireland answered and smiled back at the boy until he too left.

"Now what?" Ireland asked England when Sealand left.

"Now we do damage control."

* * *

Any ideas what's gonna happen next? How others are gonna react? Well hopefully I can update this quick enough but this month is crazy busy and I am being a terrifyingly bad student by just writing this now...

Well hope you guys liked it and thanks for reading so far. Also big thanks to reviewers, followers and favouriters :D You guys are incredibly awesome!


	12. The one with the curse

I am a horrible horrible student and I should be ashamed -.- But good news for you guys following this another chapter in just under 24 hours :D As it's turning out the more things I need to do, the more I update this... That's not good . Seriously when I have no time I write this instead and when I have plenty of time I write other things or just sleep... it's a very bad cycle :/

Well anyways now onto this chapter :D

* * *

"Dude is that for real? Are they really together?" America called after the teenager.

"Aye it is," North grumbled in response and continued rushing to his room, he needed his drums now. Slamming his bedroom door open he launched himself towards the drum-set and start playing as loud as he could.

"Then we need to break them up!" America told him and followed him into the room muttering a "cool drums dude" when he saw North playing.

"Thanks dad got them for me a few years back after my first set got destroyed in Belfast." North answered without even thinking. Most of the people who saw him playing or even knew he played the drums were family or knew their secret.

"Your dad?"

North froze in place then remembered the promise Ireland made, no more secrets.

"I guess I'm getting an early start on this whole thing," he mumbled to himself then looked up at America, "aye my dad, I'll let ye take a guess at who he is."

"Holy shit dude I didn't even know you had a dad! Ok well judging by the eyebrows Kirkland right?" North nodded and let America continue. "And with your hair and eyes... I'm gonna guess Wales." North facepalmed. Of all of the Kirkland's America had to pick the least likely. "So I'm guessing it's not Wales?"

"No my dad's not Wales," North deadpanned and gave him a less than unimpressed look.

"Well that narrows it down," America laughed and started thinking again. North could only imagine it hurt the guy to think that much. "Then what about Isle of Man? I remember meeting him and you two kinda look alike." Once again North facepalmed, how stupid could one guy be? "So not him... then Cornwall?" America was only met with an even more unimpressed look. "Ok give me a minute... red hair, tallish... bright green eye, but then again... North why are your eyes different colours?"

"My parents and uncles think it's cause of the split in my people, you know how it's nearly have Catholic and half Protestant?" North explained almost glad America was actually thinking logically.

"So nothing to do with your dad? Wait parents?"

"Yep parents and nope my dad has green eyes, but keep going there's not many left in the Kirkland family," North teased to try and encourage the blonde.

"Then it has to be Isle of White!" America exclaimed with a huge grin.

"Are ye really this stupid or did ye fall on yer head when ye were a baby?" North sighed and cradled his head in his arms, this was really starting to get to him now and he could feel a headache building. That was one thing he wished he didn't inherit from England, those blasted headaches.

"Just playing, I haven't even met him. Or I don't remember. So that leaves Shetland Islands," North glared at him. "Ok gonna be serious, when you think about it there really is only one guy. I mean you're the spitting image of him, you share the same sense of humour and you guys are really close. It has to be Scotland." Pleased with his investigative work America crossed his arms and smiled down at the redhead.

"I wish it was but nope, not Scotland. He is the best uncle in the world and he was around more than my dad at times..." America gaped at him.

"That only leaves England, there's no way... wait England's your dad?"

"Aye he is, look when I figured out what he was like myself even I was shocked," North told him and forced back at laugh at America's face. The blonde was completely dumbstruck.

"Ok I was not expecting that... so who's your mom?" America rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly and tried to process the fact England had a son who wasn't as grumpy as him. But the more he looked at North the more he could see the resemblance, North really could have been England's double but with red hair, eyes and personality.

"I'm not helping ye on that one lad," North muttered and played with the drum sticks in the hopes America wouldn't run through a huge list of names before arriving at the very obvious answer. He looked up at the American and was shocked to see him seriously thinking about it. Eventually America looked back at North and frowned.

"Your mom's Ireland."

"Aye," North answered simply and then having had enough of the conversation started playing the drums again.

"But how?" North stopped drumming to answer the American but he kept talking. "They hated each other then; the fights during the meetings were bad but the fights back then were scary. I genuinely thought Ireland was going to kill England in his sleep. I mean, they were going to kill each other until WWI got in the way and gave Ireland a chance to break free."

"I don't know, ye have to ask them about it. All I know is what Scotland told me one night when he was drunk. Apparently when England found out about me he knew he was losing my mum, then when I was born and he saw me things kind of fell into place." North stared at his drums, the fact he barely knew anything about the time annoyed him and the fact no-one would tell him what he wanted to know made him even angrier. "Look all I know is that when my ma got her independence she had to give me up as well."

"Dude that's harsh."

"Aye it is, I hated ma for it for a while until she told me she never wanted to give me up and how much it hurt her to do it, she did take every opportunity to see me. Some of my best memories are going to Dublin or her coming over to visit, I never understood why dad wasn't around though."

"England wasn't around when Ireland came over?"

"Aye, normally Scotland found a way to sneak her into the country or she came over when dad was away. Wales was the one to take me over to Dublin most of the time, sometimes Scotland tagged along too. I don't think I was in the same room as both my parents until the seventies and that was weird."

America gaped at him again, this huge secret was a shock. How they could have kept it for so long was beyond him and it made him wonder how much England was hiding.

"So am any chance ye can keep this quiet? I know ma said that it was ok to stop all the secrecy but I don't think she meant so soon..."

"Yea dude... no problem," America mumbled and lowered himself to sit on the bed. "So wow, I can't believe this. What's it like having them as your parents? Has England relaxed at all or is he still controlling?"

"He used to be bad, but then in the eighties he disappeared for a long time and I stayed with ma or Scotland most of the time. Since then he's been ok and it's weird. I keep hearing stories about what they were like and it's really annoying when people talk about ma, there are some things ye don't want to hear about yer mum..." North shuddered at the memory of Spain and France's conversation one St. Patrick's Day. There were things in his parent's private lives he did not need to know about.

"Wow, yea I can see why, but seriously dude I can't get my head around it. England has a cool son, actually England has a son! I never thought it was possible. Most of us nations can't even have kids."

"Well I'll take that as an "I'm special" and my people were breaking off anyway, it was just a matter of how I was gonna show up," North shrugged, he thought about the whole thing a lot and in a sense he is grateful to have both his parents.

"Ok well this is one crazy day, first finding out about England and Ireland, which I still think is a bad idea and now this. How do you deal with it?"

North shrugged, it was part of everyday life for him. "It only gets annoying when France conveniently forgets and chats up ma... that's not a nice thing to see. Ma barely notices half the time so it's up to me and Scotland to put him in his place. Or when Scotland gets drunk with friends and they talk about girls they like... but I'm not going into that cause I want to forget it myself."

"Wait Scotland likes Ireland?"

"SSHHH," North rushed forward and shoved his hand over America's mouth. "I shouldn't have said that, it's a secret. He hasn't actually admitted it sober yet and he always forgets when he does admit it which has only been twice. So you need to keep that secret." North urged. He had no idea why he was talking so much but he couldn't stop himself.

"Wait Scotland never admitted he likes Ireland?"

"Yea, I mean no he hasn't but he's always liked her, or at least for as long as I can remember. Ok I need to stop talking now!" he shouted and pulled at his hair in frustration, he genuinely wanted to stop but couldn't. Everytime he was asked a new question he had to answer it, something was wrong. He was never this honest, the only time he was, was the previous week when he admitted he stole Wales' sheep and locked them in the... That was it! Wales cursed him, or at the very least placed a curse in the room.

What's wrong with you? You seem a bit, I don't know jumpy?" America asked as he watched the teens eyes widen and he frantically stared around the room.

"Wales, that bastard hid a curse in here. Get off your arse and help me find it!" North demanded and threw America off his bed. North quickly started ripping the room apart and America could only stand back and watch. America didn't know what a curse looked like, so he was only going to slow down the fiery teen. "Where the bloody hell did he put it?" North gorled and ducked under the bed, pulling out whatever he could.

"Ahem," came a voice from the door, both swung around to see England standing with an annoyed look and his arms crossed. "Have either of you seen Sealand and what may I ask are you...?"

"Sorry dad didn't see Sealand, I thought he was downstairs," North cut him off an continued his search, swearing under his breath every so often until he stopped and sat back on his heels, and evil grin set on his face. "Dad, can I ask something?" He turned and gave England a pleading look, England stood shocked at the way North had addressed him but said yes anyway.

"Do ye mind coming in here, I need yer help," North crouched down and started searching again.

"Why what is it and why are you calling me da..."

"Do ye really love Ireland?" North asked as soon as England crossed into his room, cutting off the Brit mid sentence.

"Why would you need to ask that, of course I do," England answered without a second of hesitation and clasped a hand to his mouth in realisation of what he said.

"So you're not going to hurt her like you did before?" America piped in, catching on to what the Irish nation was doing.

"No I wouldn't, don't be absurd. If I did that I don't know what I would do," England gasped in shock and stared at North, why the hell did he answer so honestly?

"When did ye realise ye loved her?"

"I always have," England clenched his fist; this was not what he intended on doing. He just wanted to know where Sealand was as Sweden had called looking for him.

"What would ye do if someone else came along and was better for her?"

"Like who?" England managed to scoff before he felt overwhelmed to answer the question.

"Like me," America supplied. North and England glared at him, their eyes full of hatred.

"There's no way I would be willing to give up without a fight," England growled.

"See that's kinda what I was worried about," America said with a grin, "you're pretty possessive and well she's kinda like a big sister so I won't even go there... in saying that though she is pretty." The last part was met by a quick thump to the head by both England and North. "OWW, huh I can see that he really is your dad now North."

"Yes about that, you told him?" England scowled and moved away from the blonde.

"It was an accident, look ye probably noticed by now but ye have to answer all the questions yer asked honestly in here. I think Wales put a curse in the room. Want to help me find it?" North argued in his defence.

England grumbled in protest but started searching the room as well. Within minutes they found a tiny piece of paper barely bigger than the nail on North's pinky finger with a picture of a woman holding a sword. An honesty curse, exactly what North had suspected. As soon as he laid eyes on the paper North ripped it to shred and reached for his phone, dialled a number and started pacing the room.

_"Glad to see you're up and about North," _the voice on the other side answered happily after the fourth ring.

"You arsehole! Why the fuck would ye put an honesty curse on me?" North screamed down the phone.

"_Hey hold on a minute, it's your fault."_

"How is it my fault Wales?" North was seething.

_"You stole my sheep."_

"Aye as a joke! That didn't give ye the right to curse me."

_"Well you know now, what was the worst that could have happened?"_

"America knows who my parents are thanks to that!" The other line went silent and North could hear mumbling between Wales and someone else.

_"Why is he there? I thought he went home after giving up on finding out who England's seeing?" _England shot the nations a look telling them he already knew after he felt a veil of awkwardness fall over them.

"He came back and he found out about everything," North explained as calmly as he could.

_"Shit, I didn't expect it to get so far out of hand. Is there anything we could do?"_

England held his hand out to take the phone from North, he was more than a little anxious to shout at his brother as well. Complying North handed the phone over but whispered to him to turn it on speaker so he could hear.

"No there is not, Ireland and I agreed that considering the change of circumstances and the fact it's been far too long we're not going to keep that a secret. Considering how he found out yesterday, we thought we owed him that much at least," England explained quickly and felt a tinge growing on his cheeks.

_"Well if I say so myself it's about time and look I have to go, Scotland is trying to cook and I like to keep living." _There was a slight pause before Wales continued,_ "I didn't tell Scotland about you know who and he's pretty pissed off about it. I think you should tell him soon, or better still get her to tell him." _Wales hung up leaving the room in silence.

England gave the phone back to North and ran his hand through his hair.

"This is going to be fun," he muttered to himself before leaving the younger nations alone. Stopping at the doorway he cast a look over the room, "Get this cleaned up will you, and considering you know everything now America you can help."

"So am... about the plan to break them up?" America said once he was sure England was out of earshot. "Any ideas?"

"A few," North replied slyly, "but they can't be really straightforward, I might have promised to give them a chance..."

"Dude, don't worry you're working with America. Remember how close we got to finding out about Ireland before?" He shot North one of his megawatt smiles and North could only roll his eyes at the American.

"Aye, but what about the part where ye had to go home and then I found out through my own means?"

""Well then lets do it your way," America exclaimed with a flourish, "you're just as awesome a hero as I am!"

"Right well we'll have to wait till tonight."

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

"England did ya find him yet?" Ireland called up from the bottom of the stairs when England finally appeared on the landing.

"No, I didn't and I checked everywhere," England mumbled in reply, "oh and America knows North is our son." The last part was added in as a second thought in the hopes Ireland wouldn't freak out as badly as she could.

"Then where could he have gone? Sweden said he'll pick him up soon and we... wait America knows North's our son?" Ireland glared at England, "what did you do?"

"I didn't do anything. North did, well Wales did. Wales placed an honesty curse on North's room and he found out because of that," England explained quickly.

"How'd he react?"

"Surprised to say the least but otherwise I think he was ok with it..." England stopped and pressed his ear against the closet door beside him. He could have swore he heard someone gasp, yanking the door open they grimaced at the sight of Sealand tumbling onto the floor. England grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt and pulled him up.

"Let go of me jerk," Sealand hissed and struggled against England until he was let down.

"How much did ya hear?" Ireland asked.

"All of it, but I knew anyway so it's not really a surprise." Sealand huffed and stared at the ground in defiance.

"You knew?" England questioned and raised a brow at the boy.

"Yea, I mean me and North talked all the time until I wanted to be recognised and started going to meetings..."

"Right, and I don't suppose you told anyone?"

"Nope not a person, so I can get something to eat now? I'm starving!" Ireland looked at Engladn to let him make the decision. At the end of the day Ireland had no say in anything to do with Sealand, she could only try and keep North's best interests at heart and make sure everyone else knew them.

It was then that they heard a knock on the door. On instinct Ireland hid while England answered. Stood there was a very grumpy looking Sweden, Finland standing behind him smiling nervously.

"Hi, we came to get Sealand," Finland said and Sweden nodded and grunted in agreement.

"Ah good, he's in the kitchen," England told them with a smile, "come on in." He stood aside to let the two Nordics in.

"T's nice," Sweden commented and looked around the hall.

"He meant the house," Finland informed him, "it's the first time we have seen this place." Sweden nodded again and stared down at the shorter men.

"Right well, follow me and I'll get you some coffee. America is over so I have plenty." England led the way into the kitchen and glared at Sealand who was raiding the fridge and pulling out all the chocolate. To be precise Ireland's chocolate.

"Sealand I wouldn't touch that or she will kill you," England commented and set about making the coffee.

"But she won't know, she'll probably think it was America," Sealand whined and failed to notice the other nations walk in behind him.

"But you only take the chocolate she bought, not the garbage America eats." The words lingered in the air for a moment, then Sealand suddenly huffed and put the confectionary back where he found it. "Good boy, now say hello to Sweden and Finland."

Sealand tensed on the spot, twisting his head around he yelped and ran out of the room. Sighing Finland took a seat and allowed Sweden to chase the boy.

"So America's here? What brings him over?" Finland asked, trying to start a conversation.

"Same thing as Sealand I suppose, well one of Sealand's reasons." England handed Finland a mug of coffee which he assumed he made correctly, that was until Finland took a sip, turned a pale shade of green and set it aside.

"Sealand ran off because Sweden scowled him for watching too much tv, but I do remember him calling you a secret keeping jerk before he ran off," Finland said as he tried to remember why Sealand had run off to, "if you don't mind me asking who owns the chocolate? I could use something as effective as that to keep Sealand in line."

"Well that would be..."

"Oh wait the new girlfriend? She must be something to keep Sealand in line!" Finland exclaimed remembering the meeting. "So is she here? Can we meet her?"

"I don't know if..."

"Hey let go of me!" Sealand's yelling stopped the conversation and they turned to see Ireland holding Sealand by the shirt and pulling him into the kitchen, Sweden following closely behind.

"Look what I found," Ireland declared with a smile. "Lads before I give ya this thing back, mind keeping our secret for a while? We haven't figured out how to tell everyone yet."

Finland stared at England gobsmacked, but England ignored him and dropped his head to the table. Yet another thing he didn't need.

* * *

After writing this I realised I have actually very little planned left to write :O Only about four key things to put into it... in saying that they are very important things (like Scotland finding out) so they'll be kinda long and I haven't completely figured out how this will end. It's either gonna be bitter sweet or just sweet or a cliffhanger cause I'm evil like that :P

Anyways thanks for all the reviews :D You guys are awesome! Also huge thanks to everyone who's following this and favourited it. Just seeing it makes me so happy ^^

Next chapter will be out when I have a million assignments to hand up XD


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